One Light, One Hope
by lighthope
Summary: One year later, the story is finally finished! Yay! [The sequel to Together Again] Looking back on their life together, T.K. tells the story of how he and Kari met, how they fell in love, and how ultimately, she became a part of him.
1. Prologue: New Beginnings

Preface – dated January 1, 2004

Hello to all of you reading this! I just wanted to insert a few comments here before you begin.

This story was finished in November 2003. It started from a simple idea to write a Parent Trap story Takari style to this awesome, awesome piece of work. I'm not trying to be conceited, but as of now, it is the only story I have written that has gotten 100+ reviews. It also took me a whole year to write. In that year, I think my writing improved dramatically. It's gotten such a good response—the latest, which actually has touched me the most, has now made this a bedtime story—yay!!! (Read the reviews if you want to know what I mean. =D) I'm amazed how much people like this story. It makes me feel like a good writer. =D I am in the process of revising this for the little annoying things like punctuation and stuff, but overall, I hope you enjoy. It is truly my masterpiece.

Another comment I wanted to throw in—from the Together Again story, if you want a really good visual of Aaron, check out Sora from the PS2 game _Kingdom Hearts_. That's what I imagine Aaron to look like, for the most part. (Sans the big yellow shoes. LOL)

Thank you for the reviews from "Together Again," if you read it (80 and counting!), and I hope you enjoy this semi-continuation. This story is a sequel of sorts, because it follows the "Together Again" timeline through interludes, and at the end. But at the same time, it isn't, because it focuses on T.K. and Kari (a pure Takari, unlike the prequel AND the sequel) and basically, their love story. This story is what you would find if you opened up the book that T.K. gave Kari the Christmas he proposed to her, if you remember where "Together Again" left off. It's written in T.K.'s point of view, as you will find very shortly.

One last note - If you didn't read "Together Again," I highly suggest that you do, otherwise you may get lost in the prologue and the interludes. =D

Now, go read the story, and enjoy it. Thank you for bringing me my wish – 150 reviews! YAY! You guys rock.

-light*hope

* * *

And of course, the disclaimer (grumble grumble):

If Digimon were mine, 02 would still be airing, Taiora would be an official couple (go Taiora!) and Takari would be a real thing, not like something hinted at or anything. In other words… they're not mine!!!! Deal with it.

One Light, One Hope

Prologue: New Beginnings

-Los Angeles, California-

            "Flight 192, with service to JFK Airport in New York City, now boarding."

            "That's you," T.K. Takaishi said, very softly. He and his fiancée, Kari Kamiya, and their two kids, Aaron Kamiya-Takaishi and Hope Takaishi, stood, along with Aaron's girlfriend, Kendall Motomiya. 

            "Tell me again why you have to leave?" Kendall asked Aaron.

            "I'm going back with Mom to pack up the apartment… we're going to try and sell it. I'm probably going to transfer over here somewhere, and Mom is going to see if she can work with her boss so that she can work full time here. As for Hope… well, she can really be anywhere she wants to, but she's got a gig over in Times Square tomorrow night, so she's gotta be there."

            Kendall made a sad face. "I don't want you to go."

            "I'll be back soon. I promise you." Aaron kissed the top of Kendall's head. "In the meantime, take care of my dad. Make sure he doesn't get too lonely."

            "I dunno about that, Aaron… if I'm lonely too, I'm not going to be much help."

            Aaron smiled. "I'll call you and write you, okay? And I'm definitely going to miss you."

            "Me, too."

            "Kari… how long are you going to be gone?"

            "I don't know. I'll see what I can do… but I promise I'll be living here again by June."

            T.K. made a face. "That's six months without you, Light."

            "I know." Kari's eyes reflected their sadness. "But I'll always be here." She put her hand on T.K.'s chest, right over his heart. "I promise I'll never leave you."

            T.K. placed his hand over hers and lifted it to his lips. "I love you, Kari."

            "And I love you, too, T.K." They kissed briefly and then the brood got ready to board. T.K. turned to his daughter and hugged her. "Don't stay away too long, Hope."

            "I won't. I'll be back here before you know it." This was true—Hope was coming back in a week. "Bye, Daddy."

            "Bye, honey. Take care of your mom for me, okay?"

            Hope smiled. "I will." After a quick hug for Kendall, Hope rushed to catch up with her mother and brother, and with heavy hearts, they departed.

            On the plane, Hope dozed off quite quickly. The poor girl had been so tired out lately with all the recording and promotions she'd been doing that she needed her sleep. Beside her, Aaron looked passively out the window, and Kari knew he was thinking about Kendall. She herself was thinking about her fiancé. The last few months had been the happiest she'd had in years, and now she was going to be separated from him again. A few defiant tears sprang to Kari's eyes, but she blinked them back. She knew that if their love could withstand twelve years of separation, six months—if that; Kari was going to try to get back as soon as she could—would be bearable. Still… she missed him. And then she remembered something he'd told her:

            "I know it's going to be a while until we see each other again, but until then, if ever you're doubting my love for you… read this book. I promise it'll erase any doubt."

            Kari dug into her carry-on and looked for that present—and then she found it. It was a thick book, nicely bound, with a gold cover and the title imprinted in pink: "One Light, One Hope." Kari then realized that this was one of T.K.'s works… and opened the cover eagerly, wanting to know its contents.


	2. Chapter One: Meeting

*AN: It's here! Finally! Chapter 1! Sorry it took so long. But I have no real time right now. I actually took time out of my homework time (have to do my lit hw now, BOO) to finish this chapter, since I was so inspired. Yay! So yeah. This is the beginning of T.K.'s book. Now this chapter has a lot to deal with their meeting and stuff, and I know some of the history (practically all of it) isn't the way it went in Digimon season 01, but leave me alone. It's my story and I write it the way I want to. =D Let me know what you think. It's not my best stuff but I tried to get it out as soon as I could for the sake of my loyal readers. *waves to readers* And one of the reviews told me that they thought it was cool how Kari found the book in her bag. She actually packed it there. It was T.K.'s Christmas present to her, if you didn't read the end of "Together Again." And I'm still toying with whether or not Hope gets a boyfriend. So yeah. Oh and I'll try to get chapter 2 up soon, but don't expect anything for another week or so. Okay? Now… enjoy.*

Disclaimer: They're not mine. I think you know that by now.

One Light, One Hope

_To Kari, my angel of Light, with all my love.    ---T.K._

_*Without Light there is no Hope, and without Hope there is no Light*_

Chapter One: Meeting

            It all started at the tender age of eight.

            Now, you may or may not have heard about Digimon, or you may have forgotten, but I have those creatures to thank. Without them, I might have never known this wonderful person that has changed my life and become a huge part of me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

            A long, long, LONG time ago...there was an imbalance in the Digital World, and there were eight Chosen Children, or Digidestined, picked to help restore the balance of good and evil. However, we were faced with one problem… we couldn't find one.

            The seven of us—Tai, our leader; Matt, his sidekick and my older brother; Sora, the lovely lady those two fought over endlessly (even if they didn't want to admit it back then); Izzy, our resident genius; Mimi, who seemed superficial, but really was a genuine and loyal friend; Joe, another genius type and our medical advisor, who was always there to assist us whenever someone was hurt; and me, little T.K., the "runt" of the group (as Matt lovingly dubbed me)—were on a desperate search to find this eighth Digidestined. The balance was getting harder and harder to maintain, and we needed this one child—a child innocent and pure, worthy enough to bear the Crest of Light—to help us save the Digital World. For you see, that Crest of Light was the most powerful of all our crests, and without it, we didn't have the power necessary to do our job right.

            You may be wondering how I got involved with all of this. Well… it started one day at summer camp, when it began to snow. That was weird. And then we—we being the seven mentioned above—got these weird beeping devices that looked like mini TV's. We later found out that they were Digivices, these little machines that helped our Digimon… change, if you will, and then we realized how important we were to the Digital World, and how badly our Digimon were needed to combat the evil forces at hand. So, with that said, back to my original thought.

            During our search for this child, I had secretly hoped that he or she would be my age. I mean really… all of the other Digidestined were older than me. The only reason I had come to the camp anyway was because my parents thought that Matt and I should spend some "quality time" together, and this was the only way to do it without them having to have much interaction (they've been divorced since I was six). The closest one I had was Mimi, only because she acted so childish that we kind of related. But it just wasn't the same…

            So anyway, we were back in Odaiba when the phone rang. I was staying with Matt for the weekend, so I was able to listen in on the conversation.

            "Oh, hey, Tai! What's up? Uh-huh… yeah… REALLY? You did? T.K. and I'll be over there right away!" Matt had exclaimed hastily, dropping the phone (thankfully, onto where it charged) and breathlessly told me, "T.K., we've got to get to Tai's house. He thinks he may have found the eighth Child!"

            I felt my eyes widen. "Well, then, let's go!" As we rushed to our fearless leader's house, I felt the strengthening of my crest—I was hoping (get it? haha) with all my heart that I could find a really really close friend in this eighth Child. We finally arrived at Tai's house and found the rest of the Digidestined, sans Mimi, lounging around in the living room. "Would anyone like to try some of my spinach cookies?" Mrs. Kamiya offered, bringing a plate of the most disgusting looking green discs towards us.

            "Sure—" Izzy had begun to accept until Tai cut him off. "Uh… Mom, it's okay, we're all gonna go get some food later," Tai quickly turned her down. "Oh, hi guys," he then said, finally acknowledging us. "Find a seat," he instructed, waving a hand around the room. Matt sat on the sofa next to Izzy while I sat in one of the chairs. Tai was impatiently tapping his foot and glancing at the clock. "Mimi's late."

            Right about then, the door burst open and there stood Mimi, laden with dozens of bags. "Sorry, everyone, but there was this huge sale at the mall, and like, I had to go buy stuff!"

            Sora rolled her eyes. "Shopping. I hate shopping."

            Mimi found a seat next to Joe and dumped her stuff all around her. "Well, when you get older, remind me to quote that for you."

            "Anyway," Tai interrupted, "now that we're all here, I have an important announcement to make. At first I wasn't too sure, but with Izzy's confirmation, I'm positive. I've found the eighth Child."

            "Seriously?" Mimi exclaimed. "Who is it?"

            Before Tai could answer, a small, fragile looking girl—who looked to be just about my age—came walking into the room, holding something in her small hands, asking, "Tai? What does this button do?"

            "Don't press it, Kari," he instructed, before turning to the rest of us. Apparently he didn't have to explain anything to the older kids—they were all staring at him in disbelief. I, on the other hand, was oblivious to this. "So who's the eighth Child, Tai?" I asked innocently.

            "It's Kari!" Matt and Sora exclaimed, in unison. "See, she's even got a Digivice."

            "Eighth Child?" Kari—I guess that was the girl's name—repeated, looking confused. "Who are the other seven… oh."

            "Kari, sit down with us," Tai prodded gently, and he steered her towards us, eventually sitting her down in front of me. I looked at this girl closely, feeling something—I don't know, it was all very new to me—something like I wanted to reach out and help her or something. Anyway, as Tai was explaining to us our new plan, she went into a coughing fit, and Tai looked at her sympathetically. "Are you okay?"

            She nodded weakly. "Yeah."

            "Do you want to go back and rest for a while until I'm done talking to them?" Tai offered.

            Kari shook her head determinedly. "No. I'm part of this team now, right? I should know what's going on."

            "That's my Kari." Tai patted her on the head before continuing.

            "Except… I don't know what's going on," she quietly stated, so quietly that only I heard her. I tugged on her sleeve and she turned around to face me. "It's okay. I'll explain it to you later, if your brother doesn't."

            "Thank you," she said, smiling at me. Her eyes looked me over carefully and then she asked, "How old are you?"

            "I'm eight. I'm the youngest of all of these people here."

            "Really? I'm eight too." Kari smiled again. I smiled back this time. Finally, a person my age.

            "What's your name?" she asked me.

            "I'm Takeru… but people call me T.K. for short. My big brother is over there," I told her, pointing to Matt.

            "Oh, I know him. He's Tai's best friend. My name is Hikari, but you can call me Kari. Most people do."

            "Okay. I will."

            "So, does everyone understand what we're doing?" Tai asked, looking in our direction. Kari and I looked at each other and we shrugged. "Not really," Kari admitted.

            "Don't worry, little sis, I'll explain everything to you later."

            "But Tai," Matt begun. "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

            "Do you have any other suggestions?" Tai countered.

            That did it. Those two got onto a debate, with the other Digidestined trying to make rational ideas, but Tai and Matt wouldn't hear of it. So I turned to Kari and began explaining to her what our mission was, what the Digivices did and what the crests were and everything. When I was done, she got kind of a sad look on her face. "Kari, what's wrong?"

            "Two things…" she said quietly. "First of all, I'm only eight years old! How am I supposed to save the world when I'm so little?"

            "Hey, it's okay. I'm eight, too, remember? Sure, it's been hard, but we're a team. We help each other out. And I promise you that I'll always be there for you whenever you need me. We can do this together."

            Kari smiled at me. "Thank you. I'm happy that I have someone my age that knows what he's doing." Then her smile faded into a quizzical look. "But… where's my Digimon?"

            I looked around the room. Everyone else had their Digimon with them—they were all pigging out in the kitchen. I looked over to the balcony of the Kamiya apartment and saw a small glinting of light there. "Come on, I think I know where she is."

            We quietly snuck away from the argument and onto the balcony. Sure enough, there was a small cat-looking Digimon there. Kari's face lit up. "I know her! She and I play together all the time!"

            "Hi, Kari!" (no pun intended, of course) the small white cat exclaimed. "Are you coming to play with me again?"

            "Not really… are you my partner Digimon, Gatomon?" Kari asked her, scooping the cat into her arms.

            "I don't know… am I?"

            "I don't know either. Let's go inside and ask them."

            "Okay." The three of us walked into the kitchen and Patamon flew onto my head. "Whatcha up to, T.K.?"

            I looked up at him. "Do you know this Gatomon?" I asked him.

            The rest of the Digimon stiffened when they heard that. "Get away from her!" Palmon screamed. "She's an evil Digimon!"

            "No she isn't!" Kari yelled back. "She's my friend!" I saw tears well up in Kari's eyes and told Palmon, "Are you sure she's evil?"

            "Don't you remember, T.K.? She was the one that was with Myotismon!" Gomamon pointed out. "Look, I know there's a lot of Gatomon out there, but the one with Myotismon had a tail ring… and… look, she's got one too."

            "It's not true," Kari said, half to herself and half to Gatomon. Gatomon looked up at Kari with those big blue eyes of hers and nodded. "It's not. Myotismon was using me as his slave, and I hated being there. I didn't want to hurt you at all. But I was so alone and defenseless, I couldn't do anything about it. The only friends I've ever known are Wizardmon and you, Kari… but Wizardmon's gone now."

            "How can we be sure that you're telling the truth?" Agumon asked, his eyes narrowed.

            "You just have to trust me on this one."

            All the Digimon stood there, tensely, until Tai, Matt, and Izzy came over and cleared it. "What's going on here?" Tai asked.

            "Tai!" Agumon exclaimed. "Don't you recognize this Gatomon?"

            Tai looked at the small white cat in his sister's arms. "Yes, I do. Kari, where did you find her?"

            "She and I play together all the time," Kari explained. "I found her on the balcony."

            "We think she may be Kari's Digimon partner," I told them.

            "Well, there's only one way to find out," Izzy stated. "We have to go to the Digital World."

-In the Digital World-

            "Okay, Kari… you've got to make Gatomon Digivolve."

            "But how do I do that?" she asked. Before we could answer her, a huge roar could be heard in the distance and we turned, our eyes wide. "Guys… I think we have a battle on our hands."

            Tai stood his ground, the fearless leader that he was, and stated, "We're going to have to fight him. It looks like one of Devimon's creations." We began to head towards the sound, but Kari stayed behind, looking afraid. "I don't know if I want to do this, T.K.," she said. "I don't like fighting."

            "I don't either, but if it's to save our world, we've gotta do it. Come on, Kari, I'll be with you all the way."

            "Okay." She slipped her hand in my outstretched one and together, we followed the rest of them. 

            We stopped short at seeing the rest of the group standing there, shocked. "It's Piedmon!" Joe yelled, and Piedmon cackled at seeing us there. I felt a bit of fear well up in me, but I knew I had to be strong, not just for Kari, but I had something to prove. Our battle began, with all of our Digimon Digivolving. That is, except for Kari's. She stood in shock as she saw all of these little, happy creatures she had come to know turn into wondrous fighting machines. "Kari, you need to make Gatomon Digivolve!" Matt yelled over the din.

            "But I don't know how!" she yelled back, to no one in particular. Suddenly the battle turned, in favor of the opposition, and Joe's and Izzy's Digimon were sent back to their rookie forms. Kari closed her eyes at the scene. "I don't want anyone to get hurt!" she yelled, and suddenly, there was a blinding flash of white light.

            When the light subsided, there stood an awe-inspiring angel, similar to Angemon but not quite. This one was a girl, with pink ribbons and such flowing through her long hair. I was amazed. Was this Kari's Digimon? Kari was staring up at the angel and the angel said to her, "I am Angewomon. I am Gatomon's Ultimate form, and only you have the power to get me here, Kari."

            "She is my Digimon partner!" Kari exclaimed. Then a look eerily familiar to her brother's took over her face, and she commanded, "Now go and help them out!"

            Angewomon nodded and she went and relieved some of the Digimon. I myself sent out Angemon to go help them. But alas… it was to no avail, for our Digimon were sent back to their rookie forms and slowly, all our friends were turning into keychains, courtesy of Piedmon. All of a sudden, I looked at Piedmon and what he was doing, and yelled, "Noooooo!!!!!!!!!" My brother was turning into a keychain. I couldn't let him stay like that forever. Sora was the only one of us left, besides Kari and me, and she knew that Piedmon was going to take her. "T.K., you're the only one that can protect Kari! Promise me you'll take care of her!" she yelled before she was turned into an inanimate object.

            "I will." I turned to Kari, and suddenly we found ourselves hanging on for dear life, about to fall into a never-ending hole. Kari was above me, struggling to pull me up with her. "Kari, you have to let go of my hand!" I yelled. "Save yourself!" I had to let her go on—she was our only chance of beating Piedmon.

            "I won't let you go, T.K.!" Kari yelled. 

            "You have to!"

            "No!" Kari yelled, and our rope vanished from inside our hands, and we both began to fall. I grabbed Kari's hand just to make sure she was there with me, and we began falling, falling,

f

a

l

l

i

n

g

into the huge hole.

            But don't worry, we made it out. Obviously.

            After that episode, I began to respect Kari for who she was, and got to know her better as a person. She was really nice, and a great friend to me, especially at a time when I didn't have anyone my age around. After the final defeat of Daemon into the Dark Ocean, I felt so much better—I didn't have to deal with Digimon anymore, and just live a normal life, having fun with friends and stuff. But I was wrong.

            "T.K., I got a job at a prestigious newspaper the other day," my mother told me. "The only problem is, this place is not convenient for it."

            I didn't really understand the big words she was saying, but I knew that we'd have to leave. "Why do we have to leave now?"

            "T.K…. this is a wonderful opportunity for me and I can't pass it up."

            "But I'm leaving everyone… and I'm leaving Matt! How could you? You already took him away from me once, now you're taking him away from me again!" I yelled, then ran up to my room and curled myself up in my bed. I didn't want to leave. I had finally found some friends, real friends, and was close to my brother again.

            In the end, my mother won out (parents have a strange way of doing that) and I said goodbye to Odaiba and some wonderful memories. I knew, in my heart, that I'd be back, though… someday.

There's a reason the button's there! Press it!


	3. Chapter Two: Friendship

(another author's note—dated Dec. 22, 2003: Well, I'm rereading this story and finding lots of things I don't like now that I'm revisiting it again. So I'm making a few adjustments. This chapter is just the first.)

AN: A shoutout to DanielsGirl4eva! That's so cool how you reviewed my story! Yay, thank you, you moved the count up to an even 60. =D You know, I only started reading HP fanfic like, two days ago, after seeing the movie (the first one) for the first time. I'd read the books before but wasn't that interested. Now I am! So, what kind of fanfic writer am I (or hope to become)? Let's see… there's original fiction/Digimon/Passions/Days of our Lives/Phantom of the Opera/Baby-Sitters Club/Harry Potter… is that all? Oh yeah… I forgot about Star Wars. And Spiderman (the movie). AND O-Town/Vanessa Carlton/Michelle Branch/Avril Lavigne. Cool stuff. I have diverse interests! How cool is that?

You guys, I just thought of something as I was writing this. You know how in "His Master's Voice" (season 02—the TAKARI episode! hehe), when T.K. tells Kari something along the lines of, "Don't worry me like that. I thought I'd almost lost you," and the way he says it to her, it reminds me of this one guy that I like and how he always talks to me like that. He's so sweet! (It may not have been in "His Master's Voice" but I know it was in one of the eps somewhere.) Yeah just thought I'd share with y'all.

So here's what you've all been waiting for… Chapter Two! It's a bit short, but I have to get to the good stuff somehow, right? Forgive me. (Oh, and there's minor Davis bashing, but not much. =D) You know they're not mine, so don't harass me about it! (j/p =D)

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Two: Friendship

           For three years after my great adventures in the Digital World, I was a hermit. Really. You'd think that I'd learn to live with my mother moving around so much, but I didn't. I think it could have been the fact that the neighborhood wasn't so great, and that there was no one around who was my age (is this some kind of problem for me or something?), other than my classmates, and they all lived pretty far away… the only thing that got me out of the house was basketball. I had discovered my passion for it one day when one of the few decent guys was out and challenged me to a game. Even though I'd never played in my life, I was always up for a challenge, and therefore took him up. I ended up tying him. And this was no ordinary guy, he was the self-proclaimed (with enough skill to back it up) reigning basketball champ of the neighborhood. So I wasn't a total hermit.

           I still kept in touch with Matt. He is my brother, after all. I went to visit him very occasionally, like at Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter and his birthday and fun stuff like that. Every time I went and saw all my old friends, I was sad. I missed them, and I didn't want to have to leave every time I saw them again. So I didn't get too friendly with the people in my new neighborhood. Knowing my mother, we would probably have to move around again.

           My prediction eventually came true. My mother announced, right after the end of sixth grade, that we were moving again. But not just anywhere—back to Odaiba. "Seriously?" I exclaimed. I wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of starting junior high where I was. I was contemplating whether or not to ask her if I could live with Dad and Matt and go to school there, but I didn't want to push it. But now, I wouldn't have to. I was thrilled, to say the least.

           On my first day of school, I waited not so patiently for the elevator door to open. My foot tapped rapidly as I mumbled, "Come on, elevator, hurry up!" Okay, so maybe I was a little eager about getting to school. Mainly because I wanted to see people that I knew.

           Just then the door opened, and inside were two kids—a girl with long, lavender hair and big brown eyes. Well, they looked big because of her big glasses. Next to her was a small, shy looking boy with brown hair and green eyes. "Hi!" the girl said, as I stepped into the elevator car. "Are you new here?"

           "Um… yeah," I said, not wanting to elaborate on the long and complicated story. "I'm Takeru Takaishi. But you can call me T.K. if you want."

           The girl smiled. "I'm Yolei Inoue, and this is my friend Cody Hida."

           "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Takaishi," Cody said very softly.

           I smiled. "You can call me T.K., Cody."

           "Okay, T.K."

           As the elevator descended, Yolei asked me, "So, where are you heading?"

           "I'm going to the local junior high. I'm going into seventh grade."

           "Really? We're going there too! Cody's in sixth grade and I'm in eighth." 

           "Cool!" My first day of school and I already had made new friends! I was excited.

           We got out of the elevator car and walked the two blocks to the school. Once we were there, Yolei directed me to my homeroom and I walked in. I took a seat in the back and waited patiently until the teacher noticed me and called me to the front. "Class, we have a new student today. His name is Takeru Takaishi and has just moved here from…" She squinted at the paper she had been given, presumably with my information on it. "It doesn't say where you moved from," she whispered to me. I shrugged. "That doesn't matter. All that matters is that I'm back in Odaiba… I used to live here."

The teacher smiled. "Oh, good. Hopefully you'll know some people in here." Then she turned to the class again. "I hope you give Mr. Takaishi a good welcome, class." The class applauded politely and the teacher assigned me a seat. I sat down, looking at the people around me, and felt a poke in my shoulder. I turned to my right and then… I saw her.

           "Hey, T.K., long time no see!" Kari exclaimed, smiling brightly. I smiled back. I had missed Kari… things were different without her. "Hey, Kari! We're together again, like old times!"

           Kari nodded and then we proceeded to catch up on the last three years—quietly, since classes had already started. Every time I looked at her, I noticed something different. She had grown taller in the last three years, but her eyes retained that sparkle that made her special. She had also grown just a tiny bit in the way girls do when they grow—but not that much. However, there was one thing that was bothering me when I was talking to her. It was the fact that a bushy red-headed guy with goggles—almost a mini-me version of Tai—was positively glowering at me. "Um, Kari… who's that guy who's looking at me wishing I was dead?" I asked innocently.

           She rolled her eyes, and spoke without even turning around. "That's Davis. He seems to think that I'm his girl," she said weakly. "Which I'm not. I just like him as a friend."

           I nodded. Did he think I was some sort of competition or something? Well, Kari was just a friend—my best friend—and I wasn't planning on making a move on her anytime soon.

           Class let out and during passing period the Davis guy approached me. "Who do you think you are, making a move on my girl… er…" He looked frantically around, as if the locker behind him would magically make my name appear.

           "My name's T.K.," I said calmly. "And don't call Kari your girl. She doesn't like to be called that."

           "Jealous, are we, T.P.?" Davis countered.

           "No… I'm just saying, you should respect what she wants, if you claim to like her so much," I replied coolly. But something he said struck a nerve in me, and I didn't know what exactly.

           "And his name's T.K.!" Yolei cried out, from nowhere. "He just told you that two seconds ago!" (AN: Typical Davis!)

           "Thanks so much for all your help, Yolei," Davis replied sarcastically, as Yolei joined us. "I could have handled it on my own."

           "Yeah, right," Yolei scoffed. Then she turned to me. "Sorry about that, T.K. I suppose you were trying to have a normal conversation with Kari?"

           "Yeah, I've known her for a while now. I didn't know she was going to be in my class."

           "Really?" Yolei's wide eyes were sparkling with curiosity. "How do you know her?"

           "Long story. I used to live here, but I had to move away. We shared some good times before I moved. My brother is best friends with her brother."

           At the mention of Tai, Davis's ears perked up. "Her brother is so awesome!" he yelled.

           "Is that why you're trying to look like him?" I asked casually, then started to walk away towards my next class.

           "Shove it, T.S.!" Davis yelled after me. "And I'm warning you, stay away from my girl!"

           I rolled my eyes as I walked away. Seventh graders can be SO immature sometimes.

           Finally, after the last class of the day, I was on my way home when suddenly, I ran in to someone who looked strikingly familiar. "Izzy?" I asked, carefully.

           He studied my face for a split second before breaking into a smile. "T.K.! Look at you, you're all grown up now! What brings you here?"

           "I live here now, Izzy… again."

           Izzy grinned. "That's prodigious! It's glad to have you back."

           "I'm glad to be back. So what are you doing here anyway?" I asked, curiously.

           "My friend Yolei wanted me to help her with some computer stuff," Izzy explained. "So I'm off to the computer lab. You want to come?"

           "Sure… I guess. I just met Yolei today, anyway." 

           "Prodigious!" Izzy continued his walk to the computer lab. "It's great to see you again, T.K."

           "Likewise," I replied. "So you're at the secondary school now?"

           "Yeah. I'm a first year."

           "Ah." We walked into the doorway of the room and I saw Kari, the _click-click _of her fingers hitting the keyboard echoing loudly and her face contorted into a weird expression.

           "Hey, Kari," I greeted her, putting my hands on the table next to her and looking over her shoulder. "Whatcha doing?"

           "Oh, hey, T.K.," Kari replied, looking up at me. "I'm trying to figure out what happened to this computer."

           Izzy peered over her other shoulder and gasped. "Um… I think I know what that is."

           Kari shifted her gaze over to the older boy. "You do?"

           "I think…" He blanched. "I think it's a Digiport."

           "What?" Kari and I exclaimed, together. "But how…?" Kari asked.

           Izzy shook his head. "I have no idea."

           As the three of us pondered this, three lights suddenly jumped out of the computer, all heading for the door. One—a blue one—hit Davis right as he came into the room, and apparently contained something tangible, because it hit him square in the head. "Ow," he said, rubbing his head as the object clattered to the floor. "What's the big idea, T.E.?" Davis asked. "You trying to kill me or something because you want my girl?"

           Kari rolled her eyes. "Davis, I'm not your girl, his name's T.K., and he didn't throw it at you. It came out of the computer."

           "Really?" Davis scrambled to pick the offending object up. "Wow… that's cool! What is it?"

           The thing was whirring and beeping like crazy. "Let me see it," Izzy asked, and Davis handed it to him. Izzy hit a few buttons and then exclaimed, "Prodigious!"

           "What is it?" I asked him.

           "It's a Digivice!"

           "A Digivice? But that means…" Kari and I looked over at Davis. "Please don't tell me we have to work with him," Kari groaned.

           "What's a Digivice?" Davis questioned. "And how do you know all this stuff, T.A.?"

           "A Digivice is something that is used to help a Digimon Digivolve. Most likely, the Digimon should be your partner. And I know all this because I'm a Digidestined and I have a Digivice too. So does Kari."

           "Does that mean he's a Digidestined, Izzy?" Kari asked him.

           Izzy was still messing with Davis's Digivice. I snuck a peek at it and noticed that it looked a lot different than mine and Kari's. It had a more ergodynamic shape to it, instead of the hard, angular box that Kari and I had. It was also two-toned. "I think so. This looks like a different model, but it's definitely a Digivice. Now… the only way Davis can truly be a Digidestined is if he gets a Digimon to work with him."

           Davis, who was utterly confused by this, suddenly jumped as a burst of light came from his Digivice and a small, blue Digimon appeared. "Hiya! I'm Demiveemon and I think you're my partner," it said.

           "Whoa!" Davis's eyes bugged out and the three of us looked at each other in disbelief. "So it's true," I slowly said. Then I looked at Davis, who was still freaked out by the little Demiveemon, and told him, "Well don't just stand there, say hi to your Digimon!"

           "Uh… hi," Davis stammered.

           "What's your name?" Demiveemon asked.

           "Davis."

           Demiveemon jumped giddily. "Hi, Davish! I've been waiting to meet you for a long time."

           As I lay in my bed, recounting the events of my first day of school, I knew it was a day I'd never forget. Not only was my duty as a Digidestined called upon, but I had made new friends (and maybe even an enemy) and reconnected with old ones. My mind drifted away from my initial thought at the memory of Kari. She had really grown up in these last three years. We both had… and now we were going to have to lead the way for our new friends and newly discovered Digidestined, to restore the balance of the Digital World once again. But what could the threat be this time? The thought troubled me as I drifted into sleep.

~*~

           As the year progressed, so did the knowledge of our problems. There was a new evil in the Digiworld—the Digimon Emperor, as he liked to call himself—and he was taking over the Digital World with these things called Black Rings, which were basically binding, granite-colored collars. They had, basically, the same effect as brainwashing did. 

           In our first visit to the Digiworld, Kari and I found our Digi-eggs together. Our familiar crests of Light and Hope shone out and magically, our Digivices morphed right in our hands. They changed into ones identical to Davis's, Yolei's, and Cody's. With these Digi-eggs, our Digimon could now Armor Digivolve to these great flying wonders. And as we got more involved, we realized that the problem was much bigger than just Black Rings and a boy (later, we found out that his real life persona was Ken Ichijouji and that Yolei had had the biggest crush on him until she found out he was the Digimon Emperor) trying to play "I'm the king of the world"; it later escalated to the fact that two Digimon were planting what were known as Dark Spores into innocent children… much like Black Rings, only it took years for the effects to truly be seen. Eventually, we defeated the evil—the return of MaloMyotismon—with the help of children all over the world. And the Digital World became peaceful once again.

           I remember a lot of things from that time. But three events stick out at me in my memory. The trip around the world, one of my fondest memories, was fun. I went to France with Tai and met this girl named Catherine. She was really nice, and really pretty, and I remember thinking to myself that I might actually like her if she and I lived closer to each other. But my mind always drifted away from that. I don't know why. In retrospect, I know exactly why, but I didn't know then. The two other things I remember have to do with Kari, my best friend. Throughout this whole battle, Kari and I had been getting closer. We were making up for three years of lost time, and I guess she felt that I was the only person who could really understand everything she went through. The Dark Ocean tried to call her back once. Before it took her to that dimension, I remember telling her that she couldn't go, because I cared too much for her to do so. Where that came from, I had no idea. But somewhere deep in my heart I knew I didn't mean that in just a friendly way. Maybe I was in denial at the time and believed that she was like my sister. I don't know. But the prospect of losing Kari hurt me so much that I had to get her back. When I finally reclaimed her, she told me she cared for me too. What that meant, I had no idea. I barely had any idea of what my own words meant. 

           The last thing that sticks out in my mind isn't just one set thing. It's more like a compilation of things. Ever since that first day when Kari and I found our Digi-eggs, I knew that somehow, we were connected for life. Our Digimon had a joint attack, something no two other people shared. We were both original Digi-destined. Azulongmon told us that the bearers of Hope and Light (if you didn't know already, that's Kari and me) were the most important in maintaining the balance of good and evil in the Digital World, and that for it to thrive, we needed each other. I turned to Kari and smiled at her, and she smiled back. But it was a different kind of smile. I couldn't put my finger on what, exactly, but it was different, and very special. To this day that brilliant smile has never left my memory. It lit the way for something even more special.

You know what I'm asking for! *sees button; presses button* Now you do it too!


	4. Chapter Three: Bonding

*AN: This went in a different direction than I expected, but it's still okay. =D There are going to be interruptions of this book to fit in what's up with Hope and Aaron, for all you Together Again fans. Yay. The first one will be right after this chapter. And this chapter introduces the Takari romance, a little. Don't worry—it'll get full-blown soon enough. Guess what, it's gonna be Thanksgiving soon! I'm thankful for days off from school and time to write! Other than God, family, friends, etc., of course. And thanks for the correction about the Black Gears. Must have been a Season 01/Season 02 mix-up in my overworked brain. It's been a while since I've seen either *sniff, sniff*. So yeah, enjoy! And happy Thanksgiving!*

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Three: Bonding

            It was (finally!) the last day of school in our seventh-grade year, and as the bell rang and kids swarmed out of their classrooms, I waited patiently for Kari as she pushed an envelope into our teacher's hand. Probably a thank you note or something, knowing Kari. "Thank you so much for all you've done for us this year," Kari told our teacher, smiling as she walked back towards me. "It's appreciated."

            "Just doing my job, Kari," the teacher replied. "Now you have a good summer, and I'll see you around next year."

            "Okay. Bye!" Kari waved and then we left the classroom. "I'm so glad it's finally summer," I told her, casually placing my arm around her shoulders.

            Kari sighed. "I know. Now that we're officially out of school, what are we gonna do?"

            I shrugged. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

            "Well, I really wanted to go watch that new Harry Potter movie. It looks good, and I read the book and the book is great."

****AN: Okay I had to interrupt this because there's an important note I have to make. It seems to me that a lot of Harry Potter fans are also Digimon fans (probably the other way around, though, hee hee). So I decided I was going to put some of my Harry Potter interest into this chapter. Gives me something to write about and makes things interesting. And of course I get to insert some HP stuff without having to write a ficcie about it! Although I probably will one of these days. So anyways… back to the fic.****

            "Okay. Why don't we go tonight, to celebrate becoming eighth graders and the beginning of summer?"

            Kari smiled. "That'd be great. How about if all of us go—Yolei, Ken, Davis, Cody, and whomever else wants to go."

            "Sounds good to me. Why don't we go over to my place? My mom isn't going to be home for a while so we can just hang out until the movie starts."

            "Okay." We walked in the direction of my apartment building. As we walked and chatted, we noticed the backs of two familiar heads. "Hey Yolei! Cody! Wait up!" Kari yelled, just as I had opened my mouth. That was weird. It was almost as if she read my mind.

            The two of them turned around at Kari's beckon. "Hey, guys!" Yolei yelled back, and we walked briskly to catch up to them. "Hey, Kari and I were just thinking about going to see the new Harry Potter movie. You guys want to come?"

            "Sure!" Yolei answered enthusiastically. "I'll probably have to ask my mom first, but I definitely want to."

            "Cool." I turned to Cody. "What about you?"

            "I don't think I can," Cody answered in his soft voice. "I promised Grandpa I'd practice Kendo with him today."

            "Okay," Kari accepted, understandingly. "Maybe another day."

            "Maybe." A small trace of a smile emerged on Cody's face.

            After Yolei and Cody went their separate ways, Kari and I crashed on the couch before we did anything else. "School gets so tiring for me," I told her. "There's basketball practice, and homework, and boring lectures, and then having to deal with Davis." The last statement was more of a joke; Davis and I had long before become friends, after he grew up a little. He still gets my name wrong, but it's just a running joke between the two of us and it never fails to bring me a laugh. 

            "Hey! Davis isn't all that bad!" Kari exclaimed, before realizing it was a joke and swatting at me. "T.K.!"

            "Proves my point exactly. School tires you out."

            "Yeah, I guess." She lazily leaned her head on my shoulder and this weird feeling came over me. Kari and I were very comfortable around each other—we were best friends (and still are). But that day, something came over me, something new, something different… and I felt really weird with Kari's head leaning on my shoulder. I didn't mind it—quite the opposite, in fact—but it was still weird.

            "Hey, Kar?" I asked. "Are we going to call everyone up now? We should, and then see what time we should go."

            "Okay… you get the times, I'll call everyone."

            "Okay." I went to the computer and turned it on, as Kari picked up the cordless phone. Right before she was about to turn it on and dial, it rang in her hand. She jumped a bit at the loud noise before answering. "Hello, Takaishi residence."

            I smiled to myself as I listened to the ensuing conversation. "Oh, hey, Yolei! What's up?... Okay! Okay, that's great! I'll just tell everyone to meet there. What? Oh… I don't know. T.K!" She called over to me, putting one hand over the phone, and I turned around. "What?"

            "Do you know what times the screenings are yet?"

            "Yeah… there's a 5:45 and a 7:30."

            "Okay. We should probably go at 5:45, don't you think?"

            I nodded. "Sounds good."

            "Okay." She started talking to Yolei again. "The movie starts at 5:45. So… 5:15, at the latest, you think?...Okay, cool… Yeah?" She blushed for a moment before saying, "No, we're just friends, that's all. Best friends… Yes, I'm sure. I have to go call other people… Davis, Ken, and maybe some other people… Don't freak out, Yolei, it's just a group outing, not a date or anything. I'll talk to Ken if you really want me to, you know, hint some things at him. Okay? I'll see you later, Yolei. Bye." She hung up and sighed.

            "That was interesting. Why'd you blush?"

            Kari blushed again, not saying anything. "Come on, Kar, I'm not going to laugh at you."

            "Okay. It's stupid, really. Yolei told me that when girls answer guys' phones, that means they're going out and so she asked me if I was your girlfriend."

            "Oh." I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly feeling that weird feeling again. Kari… my girlfriend? The thought had never occurred to me before, but now that it had… different things were running through my mind. (AN: Nothing dirty, okay? They're only in junior high!) What would it be like if Kari and I went out? She was really pretty… and really nice, and really sweet, and the way that she laughed… _Snap out of it, Takaishi, I told myself.__ She's your best friend._

            "T.K.? Are you alright?" Kari's voice took me out of my thoughts.

            "What? Oh, yeah… I'm fine." The tension was still hanging in the air, and so I decided to make it go away by changing the subject. "So, Yolei has a thing for Ken, huh? Maybe I'll help her out, you know, talk to him or something."

            "Yeah… I was just telling her that so that she'd stop talking and that I could carry on with calling everyone else." We both laughed at this, knowing the kind of mouth our friend has. "Speaking of which… I'm going to see if Ken can come." As she dialed Ken's number, I watched her closely. That remark about her being my girlfriend… I just couldn't get it out of my head. It was almost as if it was changing the way I looked at Kari.

-Later: Inoue convenience store-

            "Okay, guys, I'm ready to go!" Yolei yelled, throwing her apron off and into the air, just as Ken rushed through the door. "Sorry I'm late—" he began, but was cut off by an unidentified flying object landing on his head and covering his face.

            "Oops," Yolei squeaked, turning a bright shade of red. She ran over and took the apron off of Ken's head. "Sorry… I got excited about leaving work."

            "It's okay," Ken replied, his face turning the slightest shade of pink. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind that I brought my cousins with me. They're staying here for the summer and I thought that this would be good for them." He gestured to the two teens, about our age, sitting on the bench in the corner. "This is Lily," he introduced, as the girl with long indigo hair stood and joined our group, "and that's her twin James." (AN: Couldn't help it, sorry!) "Lily, James, this is Davis, Yolei, Kari, and T.K."

            "Hey," I said to both of them. 

            "Hi," Lily said shyly. 

            "What's up?" James addressed. Obviously he was the more extroverted of the two.

            Kari glanced at her watch. "Well, we better go. The movie's gonna start soon." So we set off, walking in little groups: Davis, Lily, and Yolei were chatting loudly (actually, it was just Davis and Yolei, with poor Lily stuck in the middle), and Kari had struck up a conversation with James. This left me to walk with Ken, and so I began, "Hey, Ken, where are your cousins from?"

            "They're from where I used to live." I nodded. "Ah." We walked in silence again, until I asked him, "Hey… what do you think of Yolei?"

            Ken blushed a bit. "Um… she's nice," he managed to get out.

            "That's it?"

            "Well… okay, I like her a lot. She's the total opposite of me—brazen, outspoken, rash—but that's exactly what attracts me to her. She's also very loyal, and I need that in a girl. Wormmon's loyalty to me was the only reason why I'm here right now and not causing havoc in the Digital World." His eyes were downcast, sadly.      

            "Ken, you can't keep blaming yourself for that. You know that's not your fault."

            "I know… but I mean, I still feel guilty for it," Ken admitted. "I can't help it."

            "Well, let's get your mind off of it then. Your cousins are going to be staying for the whole summer, right?"

            "Yeah." He eyed James, who was now laughing with Kari. I looked at them, too, somewhat longingly. Ken picked up on this, I think, because he asked me, "So what's with you and Kari?"

            "What makes you think there's something going on between Kari and me?" I replied slowly, thinking out a good retort before I actually said anything.

            "The way you're looking at her now… the way she was calling from your house earlier… I don't know, it seems there's something there for her."

            "Of course there is—she's my best friend."

            Ken nodded. "Whatever you say, T.K."

            I was about to ask him what he implied with that, but we had reached the movie theater and a formidable line. "Ooh, we better hurry if we want to make it in on time." Luckily, we got the last tickets before the show sold out. We ran to the refreshments stand and bought popcorn, Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids, chocolate bars, sodas, nachos, the whole enchilada (no pun intended). With all the stuff we had, it was a struggle to find seats in the movie theater, much less ones that were all together. Finally, we found some in the second to last row and the row in front of that. Lily, Davis, and James sat in the front while Ken, Yolei, Kari, and I sat in the back. I couldn't wait for the movie to begin—I'd been anticipating it for a while. So I settled in and took a bite out of my popcorn as the movie started.

            The movie was great. I hadn't read the books (although Kari had tried to force me on more than one occasion), so everything was a complete surprise. It was great how the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone (AN: I hear that the original title of the first book was _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone but that they changed it to Sorcerer's Stone to make it sound better to us Americans. So I figured that it would be called Philosopher's Stone in Japan, which is why I put that in here. Okay back to the story) played out. I totally didn't expect the ending. But Kari, who had read the books and knew what to expect, did, and still, she jumped at the loud parts and clung to my arm for the scary parts. "I don't like that face," she said, referring to Voldemort, as she buried her face into my arm. "He's scary looking." _

            "Kar, it's just a movie."

            "I know. It's still a creepy face and I'd rather not look," she retorted. I didn't object at all. It felt kind of nice to have a pretty girl hanging on to me.

            When the movie ended, I didn't realize that it was already 7:00. "Wow, the time just flew by," Lily said. "That's a great movie."

            "Hey, did you know that you and James have the names of Harry's parents?" Kari asked.

            "Yeah… it's kinda weird when you think about it, because Harry Potter didn't exist when we were born," James replied.

            We all nodded as we began walking . "I think they did a really great job of casting Harry and Hermione," I stated, pronouncing the girl's name as "her-my-own."

            "It's Hermione," Kari corrected me, pronouncing it "her-my-knee." (Which, by the way, is the correct way, for those of you who were wondering.)

            "Are you sure? I thought it was 'her-my-own,'" I told her.

            "Didn't you hear the way they said her name in the movie? It's 'her-my-knee," Kari insisted.

            "Oh. Well I like the other way better," I firmly stated.

            "Why?" Kari had a puzzled expression on her face.

            "'Cause… well, if I were Harry, and I asked Hermione out, and she said yeah, then I'd be able to call her 'Mione for short, 'cause then I could call her my own. Get it?" (AN: H/Hr always! Sorry I'm a Harry and Hermione shipper. =D)

            "Awww… T.K., that is so sweet," Kari said, slipping her arm around my waist. "Any girl would be lucky to have you as her boyfriend." She leaned her head on my shoulder as I put my arm around her. "Thanks," I whispered to her. _Any girl would be lucky to have you as her boyfriend… Kari's words echoed in my mind. If that was so… why couldn't I imagine going out with anyone besides my best friend? _

            "Ahem." I heard Ken clear his throat behind me and I turned and looked at him. "Nothing, you say?" he asked. Kari looked up at me with a confused look on her face, but I told her it was nothing to worry about. Then I turned back to Ken. "No, nothing."

            The summer went on, and soon it was the middle of July—very hot and muggy. I was bored sitting around and playing PlayStation; you can only play Final Fantasy IX so many times. Movies were overdone too. I needed to do something different.

            Situating myself in front of my electric fan, I tried to think of what I could do. Before I came up with any interesting ideas, the phone rang. "Hello?"

            "Hey, T.K."

            I smiled as I recognized the voice on the other end. "Hey, Kari. What's up?"

            "You wanna go to the beach today?"

            My spirits lifted. This was exactly what I needed! "Yeah, sure! Who's coming?"

            "Oh, the usual. Plus my brother and Sora, and maybe Mimi, if she doesn't sleep the whole day. I think they're bringing Matt though. Not sure."

            "Sweet." It'd be great to catch up with my brother. I didn't get much contact with him in those days.

            "We're meeting at my place in about an hour and a half. Tai's driving. Sora might drive us too, if there's not enough room in Tai's car. That's probably what's going to happen. I'm about to call Ken and see if his cousins want to come with us."

            "Okay. I'll see you in a few, okay? I have to go get ready."

            "See you in a few, T.K. Later."

            "Bye, Kari."

            I got to Kari and Tai's place in no time, after I had packed all my essentials. Sora, Matt, Davis, Tai and Kari were already there. "Hey, T.K.!" Matt was the first to greet me.

            "Hey, Matt!" We embraced in a brotherly hug and then Matt looked me over. "Geez, you're getting so tall! What the heck?"

            "He's not on basketball for any special reason," Davis commented sarcastically.

            "Thanks for your faith in me, Davis," I retorted, going along with the joke. "So, Matt, how are things going?"

            "They're going great. I'm just starting to get a band together, and we might perform somewhere one of these days. When I find out I'll let you know."

            "That's great. What about the ol' love life?"

            Matt laughed. "What love life?"

            I gasped in feigned shock. "Matt Ishida, the babe magnet, with no love life?"

            My brother shrugged. "My Sora phase is done. Besides, she likes Tai better than me. Not that I mind, really—she's more like a sister to me."

            "No situations or checking out girls or anything?" I repeated, still in disbelief.

            "No. I'm hoping to change that once we get to the beach, though." Matt grinned, and I grinned back. The day was going to be awesome.

You know what to do! Give me another reason to be thankful on Thursday!  


	5. Interlude One: Starting a New Year

*AN: Hello again! Sorry this took a while, but hey, I was uninspired for a while. Anyway, for those of you who haven't read the prequel to this story ("Together Again"), you won't really get this. So I suggest you go read that story before attempting to read this chapter. For all of you who **have, this is a little interlude to show you guys what antics Hope and Aaron are up to now. I was originally going to make this chapter longer, but I figured I need more interludes throughout the story, right? So this is all for now. Hope you like. Chapter 4 of "One Light, One Hope" should be out in another week, maybe more, 'cause I'm real busy with senior stuff and choir stuff. (I'm going to Disneyland a week from today! Hurrah!) So yeah. I love you guys for reviewing, but be patient with me! (Like I should talk. I check my favorite stories page like 5 times a day. LOL.) Okay, I'll shush now. Tell me what you think of the little interlude!***

Disclaimer: Do I have to repeat myself? *crickets sounding* Good. Now leave me alone.

One Light, One Hope

Interlude One: Starting a New Year

            Hope Takaishi waited in anticipation in a trailer set up for her, hidden behind one of the many buildings near Times Square. She was performing tonight, and this was her first major performance. She sat, wringing her hands in nervousness, when there was a knock on the door that made her jump. She went and answered the door.

            "Hey… can I come in?" a male voice asked.

            Hope looked at the guy who was standing at her "door." He was tall, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, and a million-dollar smile. Hope could feel her knees begin to fail her, and she said, "Yeah, yeah," before she knew what she was doing. The guy came in and sat in a chair across from Hope. "So, what's your name?" he asked. "I'm sorry about barging in like that, but I needed to find some calm in the storm, if you know what I mean."

            Hope smiled at the guy. "It's okay, really. I totally understand. By the way, my name is Hope Takaishi."

            "I'm Kevin Nonaka (no relation to Rika, just borrowing her last name). My band and I are performing tonight, and it's our first real performance. We just got signed a few days ago."

            "Really? So did I. My mom, actually, got me signed. Long story. She didn't know it was me until… well, it was kind of like a Parent Trap thing, if you know what I mean."

            "I think I know what you're talking about," Kevin said slowly. "So, how old are you?"

            "I'm sixteen."

            Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Really. You don't look sixteen. You look older."

            "Thanks." Hope tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear and smiled again. "So, who's in your band?"

            "These three guys—Steve, Justin, and Ray—and me. They all knew each other and I knew Ray, so yeah, we decided we were gonna form a band. I think Ray had some connection to the label… his aunt or something."

            "What's Ray's last name?" Hope queried. "I think I know him."

            "His last name's Ishida. Raymond Ishida."

            "That's my cousin!" Hope burst out. Kevin laughed. "Really?"

            "Yeah! I didn't know he was starting a band, and that he was here in New York! Why didn't he come visit my brother, my mom, and me?"

            "Well, I can beat him up for you if you want," Kevin offered. Hope laughed. "It's cool. As long as he comes to visit us soon, it's all good."

            There came another knock on the door and Hope went to get it, hoping that it wasn't the producer. She was getting some really bad stage fright, and she was happy that Kevin was there to keep her mind off of things.

            "Hey, is there a Kevin in here?" a voice asked, then his face came into view. "Ray! How come you haven't come visit me yet?"

            "I am now, I guess," he answered. "Hey, Hope. So everything worked out for you and the label, huh?"

            Hope nodded happily. "Yeah. But right now, I'm really nervous."

            "Aww, come here," Ray said, as he walked into the trailer and gave his little cousin a hug. "You're going to do awesome. I just know it."

            "Thanks, Ray-Ray," Hope said into his shirt.

            "Ray-Ray, huh? That's a new one," Ray commented. Hope smirked at him. "You know, I do go before you guys, so I can introduce you on national television as Ray-Ray, if you want."

            "Hope!" He swatted at her and she scampered and hid behind Kevin. She bobbed her head up and stuck her tongue at him before she hid again. Ray shook her head. "She's a little girl at heart," he explained to Kevin. "So what were you doing in here?"

            "I just needed to get away, and I figured this would be a good place. Your cousin is really cool. I like her."

            "Who doesn't?" Just then, a gasp was heard. "You guys, you need to get out of here now. I have to change," Hope told them, catching a glimpse of the clock that sat on the "dresser" area of the trailer, as she got out of her hiding spot behind Kevin and started sifting through the dozen dresses someone had left there for her to choose from.

            "Oh. Okay. But we'll see you later, right, Hope?" Kevin asked.

            "Definitely." She flashed a smile in their direction.

Elsewhere…

            "Mr. Takaishi, hurry! Hope's gonna be on any minute!"

            Kendall Motomiya was waiting in anticipation for her boyfriend's sister, her best friend, to appear live on national television. It was a bit awkward to be spending New Year's alone with her boyfriend's and best friend's dad, but he was the only person she knew here. And he was a good person, too. Kendall was grateful that she was able to stay here. She didn't want to imagine a cold, lonely holiday.

            "Did I miss anything?" T.K. Takaishi was rushing into the room, with two glasses—one was filled with apple cider, the other with apple juice, for Kendall. (It wasn't that T.K. thought her to be childish—it was that Kendall really didn't like apple cider.) "Here you go," T.K. offered, handing Kendall her glass.

            "Thanks," she said, taking a sip. T.K. sat next to her on the couch and they glanced at the TV, but there were still commercials on. Kendall sighed. "When is she gonna be on?" Kendall whined. "Stupid commercials."

            "I know. They seem to only get longer and longer these days," T.K. commented. "But they also get to be very funny, too."

            "Yeah." One more commercial came on—one of those funny ones T.K. was talking about—and then the coverage from Times Square came back on.

            "And now, ladies and gentlemen," a voice boomed, "please welcome singer Hope Takaishi, singing her newest single, 'Before Your Love.'"

-Live in Times Square-

            Cheers erupted from the huge crowd as Hope finished, taking a modest bow in her one-shouldered, sequined, sky-blue gown. "Thanks so much!" she yelled to the crowd. "And now, I'd like to introduce my labelmates, the group Formerly Known as the Digidestined! Give it up!"

            The crowd cheered as the four guys took their places onstage and Hope graciously stepped aside. She didn't leave the site, though. She wanted to see these guys in action.

Later…

            "So, do you have any New Year's resolutions?" Kevin queried, as Hope took a sip of her drink. Stratus Records was having a huge New Year's bash and everyone associated with the label was in attendance, except for Kari. She wasn't feeling too well and therefore was home, sleeping through the start of the new year.

            "I don't know. Maybe to get closer to my mom and my brother. I mean I've only really known them for about half a year now."

            "Really."

            "Yeah. My parents divorced when I was four, and my dad and I lived—still do—near Los Angeles, while my mom and my brother lived here. I didn't even know about them. But I met my brother Aaron at camp last summer and we hatched a plan to get them back together," Hope explained.

            "Wow, that's like a Parent Trap kind of thing," Kevin commented. "That's cool though. So, are you here visiting your mom and brother?"

            "No… not really. I'm here 'cause I had to do this. I'm going back to L.A. on Saturday, and when my brother finishes up the winter quarter, he's going to go back, too. Then we'll wait for Mom, and we'll be planning the wedding."

            "Whose wedding?"

            "My parents. Again."

            "Wow. That's so… awesome. Different, but awesome."

            "Why, thank you, Kevin," Hope said, smiling. Right about then, one of Hope's favorite songs came on and she gasped. "Hey, you wanna go dance with me?"

            "Sure! This is an awesome song," Kevin commented, as the two of them got their groove on.

(Cue O-Town's "Been Around the World" – it's a cute, fun song to dance to! =D)

Even later…

            "Hope! Hope, come on, we have to go now," Ray informed her, shaking her gently.

            "But I don't wanna go…" she said, slowly, slurring her words. Ray raised an eyebrow. "Hope, what have you been drinking here?"

            "Lots of bubbly… bubbly little things, pretty, sparkling in the water," Hope spouted. Ray sighed. "Oh, Lord, she's drunk. Kevin, do you have anything to do with this?"

            "Look at the pretty little bubbles!" was Kevin's not so helpful response. Ray sighed again. This was going to be an extremely long night.

            "HOW COULD YOU, RAYMOND THOMAS ISHIDA?????"

            Ray closed his eyes, anticipating the blow. But no blow came. Slowly, he peeked one eye open to see Aaron Kamiya-Takaishi glaring at him. "I'm sorry! I didn't know she was drinking champagne! The party was too big, and she kept wandering off!"

            Aaron looked at his little sister, who was stumbling around in the apartment. "Hello, Aaron. Did you enjoy your Yew Near?" she slurred. 

            "Come on, Hope, we're going to sleep now."

            "But it's so early! See, the sun is out!" She pointed to the hall light, which was buzzing very annoyingly.

            "No, Hope, that's the light. Now come on, we're going now. Say thank you to Ray," he instructed.

            "Bye bye, Ray-Ray!" Hope waved. "See you another day!" Thinking this was the wittiest thing in the world, Hope burst into a fit of giggles.

            "Ray, don't think I'm going to forget about this," Aaron growled before he shut the door on his cousin.

            "Happy New Year to you, too," Ray said to the door.

I tried to make Hope's drunkenness as realistic as possible, but I've never been drunk and only really been around a "drunk" person once (long story), so I wouldn't know. =D Anyways, review! They make me happy! =D


	6. Chapter Four: Revelation

HA! It has arrived! Hurrah! Here's what y'all been waiting for… Chapter 4! More Takari! (Not much, but still, there's some. Don't worry. We're getting there.) If you don't remember what happened before the little interlude (Hope being drunk came to me in a flash of writing… not really genius, but it came to me just like that *snaps fingers*… I thought it'd be a little bit of comic relief and stuff… and Kevin _might become her boyfriend… *wink* anyway), the gang was just getting ready to go to the beach. So it picks up right from there. Okay? Tell me what you think. I think I'll only be able to get one more chapter out before December 20, but after that, I'm gonna be writing like crazy 'cause there's NO SCHOOL! YES!!!! =D hehe… okay I'll shush now. You read. And review. And like. (I hope.)_

Disclaimer: Only James and Lily are mine, okay? And I confess! I stole their names, too! But don't sue me! Or else I refuse to write anymore and you'll never find out what happens! (Ooh, is that threatening enough for you or WHAT?)

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Four: Revelation

            As it ended up, we needed Sora to drive after all. In total, there were ten of us: Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Davis, Ken, James, Lily, Kari, and me. We wanted to split it up: guys in Tai's car, girls in Sora's car, but there were six guys and five seats in Tai's car, and none of us wanted to sit in anyone's lap. "So one of us has to go with the girls," Matt concluded, stating the obvious.

            "I'll go!" James volunteered before any of us had the chance to speak.

            "Okay, it's settled," Sora firmly said, before any of us could protest. 

            "Sora, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into," Lily spoke up. It was rare that she spoke up, so we all turned and looked at her. "My brother, in a car full of girls? Ummm… yeah."

            "You'll be there to take care of him," Mimi reassured her, giving her a wink.

            Davis and I exchanged a glance, and I could tell he wasn't too happy about the whole arrangement. "I really wanted to go," Davis told James, "but since you're going, I'm going to tell you one thing—stay away from my girl!"

            I could barely keep from laughing as bewildered looks came over all the rest of the guys. "Okay, okay," James complied. "Which one is your girl?"

            "Does it matter? You're gonna be the only guy in a car full of girls! Trust me, buddy, if you try any funny business, I swear—"

            "Davis." Lily touched his arm and he instantly calmed. "Don't worry. I'll keep him in line. He is my brother, after all, and I am older than him," she said triumphantly, giving a look to her brother.

            "Only by five minutes," James grumbled.

            "Anyways, guys, let's go," Sora called. "Everyone in the car!"

            The girls all piled in—well, all the girls except Kari. "Hey, there's no room for me!"

            "You can sit on my lap, Kari," James offered.

            "I'm warning you, James—" Davis began, but Lily shot a meaningful look at him and he subsided again. "Lily, if you weren't in the car…"

            "I know, I know. Thank me when we get there." Lily blew a kiss to Davis as Sora pulled out of the driveway, and he blushed furiously.

            Once they were out of earshot, I burst out laughing and gave Davis a high-five. "That was priceless, pulling your 'Kari's my girl!' line again."

            "Hey, I had to save her from that… that…"

            "So, Davis, anything you want to tell us?" Tai asked probingly, changing the subject.

            "What?" Davis had no clue what we were talking about.

            "What's going on with you and Lily?" Matt asked coyly, as we all began to climb into Tai's car.

            "Oh…" Davis ran a hand through his bushy hair. "Nothing."

            Ken rolled his eyes. "That's what they all say," he commented, throwing a glance in my direction.

            "What? I had nothing to do with this," I protested, throwing up my hands in the air.

            "Anyway, Ken," Tai said, changing the subject, "what's your cousin like?"

            "James? Oh, he's a bit flirtatious, but he's a good guy. Don't worry about him—like Mimi said, Lily's there to keep him in line. She does a great job of it, too."

            "She's just great overall," Davis sighed, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. The rest of us looked at each other knowingly, silently agreeing to let that one go.

Later…

            "We're here! We're here!" Tai announced, sounding more like a little boy than a senior in high school.

            We piled out of the car and unloaded the stuff we had packed—a volleyball net, a huge cooler filled with drinks and part of our lunches, blankets, chairs, water coolers, an awning to put over all our stuff, and lots more. "Hey, ladies!" Davis called out, and all of us groaned. "Mind helping us out here with a few things?"

            "Sure," Kari called back, with James tagging along. "Were you calling me a lady just then?" James asked.

            Davis sweatdropped. "Uh… no?"

            "Don't mind him, Davis, he's just being a jerk," Lily said, pushing past her brother. "Need help with anything?" she asked us.

            "Yeah, can you take these chairs for me?" Matt handed her a couple of beach chairs.

            "No problem."

            After setting up and getting everything together, it was finally time for some fun in the sun! The water was glittering sapphire blue, the sun was already beating down, and an ocean breeze was blowing lightly. Davis and Lily were the first ones in the water. Ken, who had some really bad memories with water and oceans in general, was content to begin a sandcastle, and was soon joined by Mimi and Matt. (AN: NO, this is _not hinting at Mimato. Sorry Mimato fans.) Tai chased Sora all the way into the water, where she tackled him and a full tickle fight/wrestling match/Marco Polo game ensued. As I watched all of this, somewhat contentedly, I decided I was going to go in and join them, but as I began to strip off my T-shirt, a voice interrupted my mini reverie._

            "T.K.?"

            I turned around to see Kari in a lavender, two-piece bathing suit that was modest, but still showed some skin. I stood there staring at her for a moment. I didn't realize that in the span of a year, my best friend was growing into a… a GIRL! And it definitely showed.

            I blushed as I realized that not only was I staring at her, but she was staring at me too (I think)… well not at me, but… at my chest? This was really embarrassing. "Um… yeah?"

            "What? Oh." Kari blushed, and I guess she realized what she was doing. (What _was she doing, anyway?) "I was wondering… can you help me put some sunscreen on my back? I would do it, but… it's kinda hard."_

            "Oh. Sure." I sat her down on a towel and began to rub the yucky white stuff onto her back. "Hey, Kari? Are you like, stressed or something?"

            "Why… oh, that feels good." Before she got a chance to answer me, I had begun to massage her back. It felt really tense, and besides, the two of us always did this for each other in school. "T.K., you're really good at this," Kari said, as I rubbed more sunscreen onto her back while at the same time massaging it. "How did you learn how to do this?"

            "Practice, I guess," I shrugged. I helped loosen up her neck and her back, and then spread some sunscreen on her shoulders. "Okay, Kar. That's all," I said, giving her a small hug by wrapping my arms around her shoulders. 

            She turned to face me. "Thank you, T.K. That was wonderful." For a moment, I looked into her eyes, and something struck me. I'd looked into these friendly, kind eyes so many times before, but this was the first time I noticed how beautiful they were, sparkling in the mid-day sun and reflecting the water. We stared at each other again for the second time in five minutes, and then I instantly realized how… awkward the situation was. "You're welcome," I whispered softly, trying to break the moment but not really wanting to.

            "Hey, Kari! Last one in is a rotten Digi-egg!" a voice, undoubtedly James's, called.

            "Not if I have any say in it!" she shouted back. Then she turned back to me and smiled. "Thanks again, T.K." And she ran off into the water. 

            I got up slowly, in a half-daze, and as I walked to the water, watching my six friends (well, five friends and this one GUY) play and frolic in the surf, a realization hit me.

            _I'm falling for my best friend_.

            I shook my head, just to make sure it wasn't just a passing thought or a random idea. But the more I pondered it, the more it settled in. So this is what a crush felt like.

            "T.K.! Hurry up, the water's getting hot!" Kari yelled, interrupting my thoughts again. But she was in my thoughts almost all the time… so did that mean she was technically interrupting? (AN: That occurred to me while I was writing this… what do you think? Random thought of the day!)

            "I'm coming!" I yelled back. Then I ran at break-neck speed to the shore, and snuck up behind Kari, making a splash as I entered in the cool water with the rest of my friends.

            We spent the whole day at the beach, talking, laughing, swimming, and building the best sandcastle Japan's coastline has ever seen. Kari took pictures of it with her digital camera, along with all of us, randomly, throughout the day. As I stretched out on a towel to soak up some rays, but really, to ponder over what I had just discovered, I was squinting up at the sky, trying to find a decent place to rest my gaze. Suddenly, I found I didn't have to squint anymore. I looked up and found Sora Takenouchi standing over me.

            "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked.

            "They're worth more than that, but they're all jumbled up, so I don't know if you'd be able to understand them." I cracked a smile.

            "Funny. Seriously, though, talking about your problems helps them to become clearer," Sora relayed wisely, looking as if she had spoken from experience.

            "Okay. So, how do you feel about Tai?" 

            "I said talking about your problems, T.K., not mine."

            "What, just because I'm Matt's brother doesn't mean you can't talk to me as a friend. Besides, we may be in similar situations."

            Sora sighed. "Fine, fine, but you're spitting out what's troubling you if I have to go and eat a sand sandwich." She paused for a moment and then began, "Well, I used to have this big crush on Matt before. But now, Tai's acting so differently… it's as if he… he likes me or something. And I don't know what to feel, what to say. I mean, he's been my best friend since who knows when, and I don't want to go out with him only to ruin our friendship, because he means a lot to me."

            "So basically, you're saying that your best friend is falling for you, and it makes you feel weird. Do you like him back?" I asked, playing the part of psychiatrist and mentor.

            "I think… I think I always have, but I haven't realized it until just lately. And it's not one of those fleeting crushes that you can just forget about in a few days. I've tried, I've tried so hard, but… it hasn't worked."

            I nodded. "What is with that family?"

            Sora gave me a questioning look for a moment, and then it turned into one of understanding. "This… this is about Kari, isn't it?"

            I nodded again. "Sora, this is all so new to me. I just realized, like, thirty minutes ago, that I'm starting to like Kari. Well, not starting… I do. But I'm worried for just the same reasons as you are—what if our friendship deteriorates, how am I supposed to act around her, what should I do… I'm not even sure if she likes me or not."

            A familiar sparkle glinted in Sora's eyes. "I'm not Tai's best friend for nothing, T.K. Let me work my magic and I'll get back to you."

            "Thanks, Sora." I hugged my friend.

            "No problem. Now what you and I said here stays here," she said firmly. "Clear?"

            "Crystal." And then Sora scampered off, leaving me to my thoughts once more.

            At the end of the day, I noticed something that had disturbed me a bit. James, like Ken had said, was very flirtatious, but he was being the most flirty around Kari. Now I now she wasn't mine to be protective of (not yet anyway), but still… he would smile at her in his cool, charming way and I'd see it in her eyes, the way she melted a little more. Could she ever look at me that way? Would she?

-a few weeks later… at the mall-

            "T.K.! T.K.!"

            I looked around wildly, trying to find where the voice was coming from. Through the sudden surge of people, I saw a waving Kari rushing towards me. "Oh, hey, Kari." The butterflies returned to my stomach.

            "Hi!" she said, pulling me into a hug. I returned it gratefully and she exclaimed, "How _are you? I haven't seen you in ages!"_

            "Well, you know… conditioning for basketball season. I'm hoping to make captain." I smiled. "And… if you must know… I'm working on a novel."

            "You, a writer?" Kari asked. "That's new."

            "Yeah, well… I kind of got into it after finding this great site called fanfiction.net (couldn't resist guys, sorry) and got inspired to write some things, and decided I was going to write my own original story. So yeah."

            "Wow… you've been really busy," Kari breathed.

            "Yeah, well…" I ran a hand through my hair. "It's not like you haven't been busy either, what with you and James hanging out all summer. What's with you and James, anyway?"

            "Oh, we broke up," Kari stated casually, waving a hand in the air. "It was just one of those summer flings, you know? And he's going back to Kyoto in like two days, so I figured it wasn't going to work out… that long distance relationship thing. I've heard it's pretty hard."

            I nodded, my heart beating faster with hope. I could almost feel a brightening of my crest, but I didn't want it to brighten too much; Kari might suspect something then. So I put on a smile and asked, "Are you okay?"

            Kari shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I knew it wasn't going to last long, so I didn't really think of it as a serious thing, but he was my first boyfriend, you know…" She sighed heavily. "But there was something else…"

            "What?" I prodded, hoping to hear what I wanted to hear.

            Kari glanced away and then gasped and pointed in a different direction. "Oh, my gosh! I've been wanting to buy that outfit for so long!" She pulled my arm and we flew over to the store. 

            "How does your brother do this?" I asked Kari, later, after everything was bought.

            Kari shrugged. "Sora says it makes his arms look buffer."

            Kari and I were both laden with many packages—not all for her. She was carrying all of hers, and I was carrying all of mine. We struggled to a bench outside of the mall and sat us and all our stuff down. "Thanks for going shopping with me, T.K.," Kari said gratefully.

            "No problem, Kar. Next time, though, I'm not going to hold your bags."

            "Well, we'll see about that," Kari winked. Then, out of nowhere, Tai's old, beat up, faded red car appeared. "Look, our ride's here," Kari said, with fake enthusiasm.

            "Yay," I said, my voice filled with the same fake enthusiasm. But hey… it was better than nothing.

            When Tai dropped me off at my apartment building, I took my many packages and waved goodbye to Kari and her brother. "Thanks for the ride!" I yelled.

            "No problem!" Tai called back.

            "I'll see you at school, okay, T.K.?" Kari called to me.

            "Okay, Kari! See you later!"

            "'Bye, T.K.!" And the car sped off. As I made my way into the elevator, I smiled to myself. My eighth-grade year was going to be the best ever.

Soooo… you like? Let me know! (real, honest-to-goodness Takari romance in the next chapter, I promise!) =D


	7. Chapter Five: Romance

Before I tell you anything, I have to tell you that yesterday I accomplished a great milestone—I now have over 100,000 words archived on fanfiction.net! Isn't that so cool? But anyways, let's get back to more pressing matters.

Look! Chapter 5 is here! (The majority of this was written today—because I have had no time before to write! *sniff*) Welp, the romance is finally here, folks, and I added in some Christmasy touches 'cause it's Christmas in… 11 days! (Shoot, that means I have to finish up my Christmas shopping. GRR.) I wanted to finish this now 'cause I know I won't have time next week. So here you go… hope you like! (It was fun to write! =D)

Two more things: First, do me a favor and read my one-shot "Mongo!" for me, will you? It's really funny and dumb, but it's great… T.K. and Davis become best friends at the end, for a strange but funny reason… it's only got 2 reviews, one being from my brother, who doesn't really count, so yeah… let me know what you think of that story, okay?

And… finally… the song used in this chapter is by 98°, and it's called "This Gift." (Aww, how cute.) Okay, now read, and enjoy! I know you will! =D (And review, please! thanks! =D)

*****

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Five: Romance 

(Yes! The title says it all!)

            On the first day of eighth grade, I walked tentatively into my homeroom. It wasn't that I was shy and didn't know anyone—that was last year—but I wondered who was going to be in my homeroom, and, more importantly, if Kari was going to be there. My feelings for her had steadily increased and now I had a full-blown crush on her. I tried very, very hard to hide it, although Ken had already picked up on it and called me on it.

            Speaking of Ken, his was the first face I saw when I walked into the door of my homeroom. I smiled. "Hey, Ken! What's up?"

            "Hi, T.K. I'm glad we're in the same class together."

            "Me, too." We sat down at a table, making sure there were two more seats, just in case our two favorite people in the eighth grade (it felt so cool to say that) ended up in our homeroom. Sure enough, a chipper Kari walked in, followed by a not-so-chipper Davis. "Hi, guys," he said glumly, taking a seat.

            "You're welcome," Ken replied sarcastically.

            "What? Oh. Thanks for saving us seats," Davis responded, almost in a monotone.

            "What's wrong, Davis?"

            Ken smiled knowingly. "He just misses Lily, that's all."

            "Aww, my big boy is all grown up!" I exclaimed in an unnaturally high-pitched voice that got the attention of everyone else in the room. I sank lower in my seat and blushed. "Sorry."

            "It's not going to be that bad, Davis. You'll see her again," Kari reassured him. I smiled at this. Kari was such a sweetheart… she was so caring and kind towards other people.

            "Yeah, but what if she finds a boyfriend down in Kyoto without me?" Davis wailed.

            "Davis, listen. If she really loves you, she wouldn't even look at another guy down there."

            "But I don't know if she loves me or not!"

            I sighed. "Davis, do you love her?"

            "I… I don't know! This is just so confusing." Davis put his head in his hands and Kari patted him on the back. "It'll be okay, Davis. You'll know love when it comes to you."

            "Thanks, Kari. I just don't know if I'll ever find it."

            As he said that, I glanced over at Kari, wondering the same thing for myself. Strangely enough, her eyes caught mine, and we both looked away quickly. Ooh. If this was the seating arrangement for the rest of the year, things were going to be weird.

            The first three months moved along at a steady pace—not too slow, but not too fast either. Soon, it was December, and lots of things were going on, besides our HUGE load of homework. Basketball tryouts were coming up; so were finals (YUCK) and most importantly, Christmas—and Kari's birthday. (Not the same day; Kari's birthday was six days before Christmas.) I wanted to surprise her, so I came up with a brilliant plan. 

-December 19: Kari's birthday (AN: I don't know if it's really Kari's birthday, I just picked the date so it's consistent with what I said in earlier chapters (and stories) about T.K. and Kari. Okay? Oh and T.K. turned fourteen a couple of weeks before.)-

            "Good morning, T.K.," Kari greeted me as she took her normal spot at our table, smiling brightly. I looked at her closely. She was wearing… earrings, I noted. And a new shirt.

            "Do you like my earrings?" she asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. "My mom let me get my ears pierced."

            "Really? That's great!" I knew what Kari was doing—dropping subtle hints to me that it was her birthday. But she was my best friend! Of course I remembered it was her birthday. I didn't want to mention it, though, because of my plans for later. But that would hurt her feelings…

            "Hey, Kari," I asked, casually, "what are you doing tonight?"

            "Um…" Kari thought for a minute. "Surprisingly, nothing."

            "Well… do you want to go hang out later? Just us?"

            Kari smiled. "Okay. Where and when?"

            "How about… after tryouts? I'll meet you at 4:30 in front of the school, is that okay?"

            "Yeah." Kari smiled again, but I noticed that her eyes weren't filled with as much light as they usually should have. "That'd be great."

-4:30-

            I rushed to the front of the school, with just my athletic bag. I was so happy—I had made the team (as captain, yay) and we had had our first practice. Not a huge practice, but still a practice. I had now dressed nicely for the party… oh, no. I forgot to tell Kari about dressing up…

            When I found Kari, I saw that she had changed into a nice, sleeveless turtleneck tunic-type dress and knee boots, her hair up in a high ponytail. She was also visibly cold—though she had a small sweater with her. I smiled, came up to her, and hugged her. "Hi, you."

            "Hey," she said through shivers. I pulled away from her. "You cold?"

            She shook her head. "No, I'm just fine."

            "Kari, you can't fool me. You're obviously freezing. Here." I unzipped my warm jacket (hey, I get cold easily, leave me alone), revealing another warm garment—a forest green turtleneck sweater—and draped my jacket over Kari's shaking shoulders. 

            "T.K., you don't have to…" she began.

            "But I want to. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I took her hand and started walking. It seemed as if we were just walking and finding out where we would end up, but really, we were heading to Kari's house. She didn't know this, of course. We took a long and obscure way.

            Finally, when we reached her house, she turned to me. "Why'd we take the long route?"

            "So that I could spend more time with you," I told her, truthfully, brushing a stray snowflake out of her face. It had begun to snow lightly on our way to Kari's house, but not enough that we minded. Now, the little snowflakes nestled randomly in her hair twinkled like diamonds and just made her look even more beautiful. 

            "T.K…. you're so sweet," Kari breathed, barely above a whisper. She was looking directly into my eyes, and the strangest feeling came over me… I felt vulnerable, but at the same time knew that I was in the safest place ever. I wanted to kiss her so badly right then… but somehow, I knew it wasn't the time or the place. So I hugged her instead. "Happy birthday," I whispered in her ear, and her eyes widened. "I thought you forgot!" she exclaimed.

            I just smiled and steered her inside.

            "SUPRRISE!!!!" the loud cheer came from inside the Kamiya residence. (AN: It seems that I throw surprise parties in all my Digimon stories. Weird. Maybe it's 'cause I really want one. =D) No lights were visible in the house at all when we had stepped in, but now there were Christmas lights of every color lighting the Christmas tree and the whole house. Kari gasped. "You guys! Thank you so much!" And then we blinked as a bright flash blinded us. There was Tai, holding his sister's trusty camera and smiling at us.

            "Thank T.S.," Davis replied, winking. "It was all his idea."

            She turned and faced me with wide eyes, like a little girl. "Really?"

            I nodded.

            "Oh, T.K…. thank you so much!" She flung her arms around me and I smiled. "Happy birthday, Kar."

            After she had pulled herself away from me, she went exploring around her house to see what was going on. There was a trail of presents from everyone that eventually led to her room; a huge, frosted birthday cake (courtesy of Mimi) with the image of the Crest of Light on the top of it; and lots of friends and family to help her celebrate the moment. 

            We ate all sorts of different stuff (mostly fried rice, teriyaki chicken and sushi—GREAT STUFF!)  and partied on—Izzy and Tai had set up a karaoke machine and a PlayStation, which had DDR hooked up to it (AN: DDR [Dance Dance Revolution] ROCKS! I was playing it yesterday =D) . After hearing too many of Mimi's renditions of Britney Spears and Mandy Moore, and after the huge DDR tournament that we held (surprisingly, Joe was pretty good at it, but he was second place to Matt when it all came down to everything), it was time to blow out the candles on Kari's cake and for her to open her presents. 

            We all gathered around as Tai lit the candles on her double-layer cake—fourteen candles that lined the circumference of the circle, and one solitary pink candle in the middle, for her to grow on. "Make a wish!" Mimi prompted, after we all sang to her, and as I was watching her intently, I saw her look right at me before she closed her eyes and blew out her candles. We all cheered and clapped as Sora picked out the candles off of the cake and we cut it up. We also had ice cream (even though it was the middle of December) and cookies, and tiramisu, another specialty of Mimi's. 

            Finally, it was time for the presents to be opened. Tai and Sora had helped me with this part—we had gotten everyone's presents and lined them from the living room, underneath the Christmas tree, to Kari's room. My present wasn't with everyone else's, though. I had that with me—I was going to give that to her last.

            It was fun to watch Kari's different reactions to all of her presents. As a gag gift, someone gave her a fruitcake, which she grimaced at. "Yuck." All of us laughed and Mimi exclaimed, "So that's where that fruitcake went! I was wondering what happened to it!" But mostly, she looked pretty happy with her gifts. Mimi, Yolei, Tai, Matt, Izzy, Joe, Davis, Ken, and some of our other friends followed her down the hall. I hung back, with Sora, and took out my present for Kari—a silver velvet box, containing a gold necklace with a pendant in the shape of the Crest of Light; the rays of her crest were pink and the middle was blue topaz, Kari's birthstone. I stroked it lightly, thinking of what to say to Kari when I gave it to her. Tonight was the night I was going to tell her how I felt about her, how special she was to me. 

            "Hey, T.K., it's really pretty, you know," Sora commented, and I snapped out of my reverie. 

            "Yeah… I saved up a lot for this," I told Sora.

            She smiled at me. "You know, ever since that first battle when we found Kari, all of knew that you two were destined for each other."

            "Really?"

            Sora nodded. "Yeah. You guys are perfect for each other. Didn't Azulongmon even tell you that you two were the most special of all the Digidestined? You linked the old with the new and your crests are the two most powerful. You two just go together. I'm sure that once you guys get together—finally—that you'll stay that way forever." She patted my shoulder encouragingly. "You'd better go get in place. They're almost done with the presents."

            Sure enough, soon a huge clump of people streamed out of Kari's room, and went back to the PlayStation to play some more DDR. Hurriedly, I went to my spot—the backyard—and waited. I sat down on the brick border of the Kamiya's fountain (AN: maybe they don't have a fountain, but it's my story, so they do!) and looked up at the sky, which was not cooperating with my plans—ugly, fat, dark clouds were hanging over Odaiba, but they were bringing snow with them, which was currently falling lightly—but steadily—blanketing the city in white.

            Just then, I heard the door open and Kari come out. "T.K.? Sora said I could find you out here."

            I smiled and said, "I'm right here, Kari."

            She looked at me and then rushed over to me, as I enveloped her in a hug. "Hey," I said.

            Kari pulled away from me slightly so that she could look at me, and smiled. "Hey yourself. Thank you SO much for this great party. I'm having so much fun!"

            "I'm glad. Your eyes look so pretty when you're happy, Kar."

(_The snow is falling, the city is white_

_Your eyes are shining like diamonds tonight_

_and__ we're all alone; there's no one home_

_You're finally in my arms again_

            "Really?" Kari's eyes searched my own.

            I nodded. "Yeah."

            We stood there in silence for a minute, letting the snow fall all over us and enjoying the relative quiet that being outside gave us. I could see the Christmas lights of all our neighbors' houses brightly shining and realized how close Christmas was. With Kari in my arms, I could feel the Christmas magic—she was all I needed. I smiled as I realized that this was the perfect moment to tell Kari what I needed to tell her.

_The night is silent, and Christmas is here_

_I couldn't ask for more than having you near_

_and__ now I know the moment is right, the moment is right_

_'Cause I've been waiting to give this gift tonight_

_I'm down on my knees; there's no better time_

_It's something to last for as long as you live_

_Tonight I'm gonna give you all my heart can give_

            "Hey, T.K?" Kari's voice asked.

            "Yeah?"

            "Did you get me a present?" she questioned, coyly.

            I slapped my head. "That's what I forgot!"

            Kari's eyes widened, but when she saw my smile she knew I was joking. "T.K.! That was mean!"

            "I know. I'm sorry. But you didn't think I forgot your present, did you, Kar?"

            Kari sighed. "Maybe. After going through all those presents and not seeing one from you… I was kind of worried…"

            "Never underestimate the power of T.K.," I warned her. She cracked a smile and I gently swept away a stray snowflake that landed on her face.

            "So…" Kari voiced a question hanging in the air. "What did you want me to meet you out here for?"

            I smiled elusively. "One… to give you your present. Close your eyes." Kari obeyed and I opened the box gently and put the necklace around her, and closed the clasp. 

            "Now open them."

_I thought I'd give you something shiny and new_

_I tried to find something worth of you_

_But I realized, when I looked inside,_

_there's__ some things that money can't buy_

            Kari opened her eyes and looked down to see her necklace, and gasped. "Oh, T.K…. it's so beautiful! Thank you so much!" She threw her arms around me and then leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. "Really, T.K…. I love it." She looked down at it again, trying to examine it. After a few seconds of watching her, I took my finger and placed it underneath her chin, gently guiding her gaze back to mine. Her eyes searched mine again and she said, "What is it?"

            "I…" Suddenly I couldn't resist anymore… it felt like there was some sort of magnet drawing me closer to Kari, and I leaned in to close the space between us, my eyes closing, my head beginning to tilt sideways, and then I felt my lips touch hers.

_I feel the magic whenever you're near_

_I feel it even more this time of the year_

_and__ now I know the moment is right, the moment is right_

            To this day, I haven't forgotten Kari's and my first kiss… there was an innocence about it, but also so many different and new feelings. It was a short one, just a bit more than a peck on the lips, but as I pulled away from her, something in Kari's eyes was different. "T.K…. what was that for?"

            I sighed. "I guess it was supposed to tell you how I feel about you, but didn't work." I took her hands into my own and began my speech. "Kari… we've been friends for a long time—best friends—and I've had so many good times with you. But in this last year, I began to see you in somewhat of a different light, and so many of your positive qualities shone out at me… not just the fact that you're absolutely gorgeous, but that you have such a beautiful heart. I love that about you. I just wanted to know if you'd give a regular guy like me a chance to be with you… because I don't know what it's like—and don't want to know what it's like—to be without you." I hesitated for just a second, and looked at Kari, who had a strange mixture of expressions on her face that I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "So I guess what I'm trying to say is… will you be my girl, Kari?"

            Kari said nothing, but the next thing I knew I felt her lips on my own again. I returned her kiss gratefully, my arms tightening around her waist as I felt her hands on my shoulders. She pulled away and looked at me, and I rested my forehead against hers. "Well?"

            Kari smiled up at me. "T.K., I've waited so long to hear that from you. You don't know how much I admire you and your optimism, not to mention your amazing eyes and killer smile." She put her hands on my face. "I'm glad you feel the same way about me that I do about you. I had no idea. And yes… I would love to be your girl. It's way better than being Davis's girl."

            We both laughed at that as I pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you, Kari."

            She looked at me. "No, Takeru," she said softly. "Thank you. Thank you for making this the best birthday ever."

            "Anything for you, Kar. Now… how about a game of DDR? You and me, best of three?"

            "You're on." We rushed back to the door, but before I let Kari step into the house, I pulled her back. "Hold on." I pointed upwards and Kari followed my lead, and smiled when she saw the mistletoe. "Merry Christmas, T.K.," she said, before melting into my embrace once again.

            Later, we were all lounging around in the living room and just hanging out, talking and (in Tai's and Matt's cases) eating. I returned from the kitchen with two glasses and handed one to Kari, and set mine down on the table in front of me. "Hey, you," I whispered to my girlfriend, as I put my arm around her. My girlfriend. It felt so… good to say that, to know that Kari was there for me like that. I felt her snuggle in closer to my arm and I smiled. "Hi," she said back to me, tilting her head up to look at me.

            I could feel suspicious and wondering gazes upon us (Tai's and Matt's, undoubtedly) and so I looked around casually. Tai and Matt were eyeing me suspiciously, as I predicted. Yolei had just realized what was going on and her eyes widened as I caught her gaze. I nodded inconspicuously to the silent question being posed and Yolei's eyes widened even more, and she tried to suppress a squeal, but was unsuccessful. Everyone looked at her and she covered, "Uh… Kari, where did you get that necklace?"

            "T.K. gave it to me," she said nonchalantly, although with a touch of pride, and smiled up at me.

            "So," Mimi said coming into the room, but then stopped her train of thought when she saw Kari and me. "Oh, my God! Are you guys finally together?"

            "That's what I want to know," our brothers said, in unison. Then they looked at each other all weird, and then shrugged.

            "Um… yes?" Kari answered.

            "Well, it's about time!" Davis commented, not looking back from his Spyro game.

            "Didn't I tell you?" Sora quipped. "I knew they were going to get together eventually."

            "Well we all knew _that," Mimi said, as if she was stating the most obvious thing in the world._

            "You did?" Kari wondered, turning a shade of pink.

            "Yeah," a new voice said. We all looked to see Cody there. "It was pretty obvious—to me, anyway—that there was something deeper than friendship there and eventually, T.K. and Kari would admit it to each other."

            "Now if only Tai and Sora would, everything would be great," I muttered. Kari giggled. I didn't exactly like being talked about like I wasn't in the room, so I tried to keep my mind off of the events at hand.

            "So, does this mean you two are going to the dance together?" Yolei asked eagerly. My eyes widened and I slapped my forehead again. "That's what I forgot!" And then I looked at Kari. "And no, I'm not joking this time." I exhaled.

            "What? What is it?" Kari asked, touching my arm gently.

            "I was going to ask you to the dance, but I totally forgot!" I looked away, shaking my head. "I can't believe I did that."

            "Hey, T.K., don't worry about it. Hey." After futile attempts to try and get me to look at her through her words, she reached over and steered my head towards hers. "The way things happened was just perfect, okay? It doesn't matter that you didn't ask me to the dance, because I know you would have anyway. Don't worry about trying to be perfect for me. I don't mind imperfection."

            "But I wanted everything to be perfect for you, Kar," I told her, totally forgetting about everyone else in the room. "You deserve that."

            Kari waved a hand. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're with me now. And I'll save you the trouble of having to ask me… I'd go with you to the dance in a heartbeat."

            "Kari… you're the best." I leaned over and kissed her forehead and as she rested her head on my shoulder, I rested my head on her head. 

            "Awww…" A chorus of girls was heard and then I realized where we were. I blushed as Mimi called out, "Come on guys, let's give these two some alone time." Everyone left, with the exception of Davis, who was still playing Spyro, and Tai, who came over and sat on the couch perpendicular to the loveseat. 

            "So, you guys are together now, huh?" he asked.

            "Yeah," Kari said, smiling brightly.

            Tai nodded. "T.K., I only have two things to say to you. One: If you ever, ever hurt my sister, you'll be answering to me."

            I swallowed. "Yes, sir."

            "And two: congratulations. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew everyone else was right when they knew you'd be together." Tai smiled and extended his hand. I took it, shaking it, and smiled back. "Thanks, Tai. That means a lot."

            Tai nodded in acknowledgement and left to get more food. I turned to Kari and took her hand, interlacing my fingers with hers. "Kari?"

            "Yes?"

            "I just wanted to let you know that no matter what, I'll be there for you, okay? I didn't just ask you out to have this be some random, meaningless fling. I promise that I'll be here whenever you need me."

            "I know," Kari whispered. "I'm so lucky to have you, T.K."

            "I'm the lucky one." I kissed her gently and then hugged my angel on earth.

_You know I'll always be true to you_

_and__ you know I'm the one you can turn to_

_Anytime, anyplace, or anywhere_

_You know that I'll always be there, oh baby_

_I've been waiting to give this gift tonight_

_I'm down on my knees, there's no better time_

_It's something to last for as long as you live_

_Tonight I'm gonna give you all my heart can give…)_

So what did you guys think? Yay for Takari romance! And there's more in the next chapter! Yay! LOL… you guys know what to do. Give me an early Christmas present! (And if I don't update before the 25th, **Merry Christmas!)**


	8. Chapter Six: Love

For a very curious writer who wants to know more about her reviewers… I have a little poll for you. Where are y'all from? You don't have to be really specific, but the general area where you are from. Like me—I live in Southern California (in the U.S.) 

AN: If you read "Together Again" (which I encourage you to do if you have not), you'll recognize the beginning of this chapter. =D hehe. You'll also recognize the song—"Only Hope" by Mandy Moore. The other song (the one that T.K. "writes") is "Before Your Love," sung by Kelly Clarkson. 

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

And—another "Together Again" interlude is coming up! So watch for that. I forgot you tell you guys that eventually this story and the Together Again storyline will merge. But I haven't gotten there yet. So yeah.

Be nice and review for me, yeah? I've uploaded tons and tons of stuff in the last week and haven't gotten a single review for any of it, so I'm very sad. This seems to be the only story people like reviewing. *tear*

Disclaimer: It's in the first four chapters. Go away.

Okay, now read! And enjoy. (It's Takari fluff, people. I know you'll enjoy it.)

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Six: Love

            _Ding-dong!_

_            I stood on the doorstep of the Kamiya household nervously; I adjusted my tie for the seventeenth time that night. I tapped my foot impatiently. "What's taking them so long?"_

            Suddenly, the door was thrown open and there stood Tai. I gulped involuntarily; Tai had always been a good friend and respected leader, but now he was playing the part of overprotective big brother, and I didn't know what to expect. "Hey, T.K. Come on in."

            I stepped inside, ever so nervously, and planted my feet at that spot. Tai smiled at me reassuringly. "T.K., come on now. Don't be so nervous. You've known Kari for practically your whole life, and if there was one person I could choose to be with her, it'd be you. But you know, if anything should happen to her, if you should break her heart… you know who you're gonna answer to."

            I nodded quickly. "You've made that clear, Tai. It's just… gosh, I just hope she likes tonight."

            "That's up to you, kiddo," Tai advised me. "Make it the best that you can make it." He went over to the stairs and yelled, "Kari! T.K's waiting for you!"

            A faint "I'm coming!" could be heard from the upstairs, and my heart began to race. And in the next few moments, she appeared before me: a vision of iridescent pink, her hair up in a simple ponytail with a few strands framing her face, my Christmas present hanging nicely from her neck, and a dazzling smile to complete the look. I gasped. "Kari… you look beautiful."

            She smiled shyly. "Thanks."

            I took the flower that I was holding behind my back and offered it to her. "For you."

            "Oh, T.K…." She took the single pink rose and lifted it to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent. "Thank you."

            "So, T.K., when do you expect to be back?" Tai grilled. And so it began.

            After dodging all the questions Tai had thrown at us, Kari and I set off… out to our first dance, and our first date.

            That night, after lots of mingling and dancing, we were taking a break from everyone and just having some "us" time. We sat down on a bench just outside and I took Kari's hand into mine, lacing our fingers together. She smiled. "I kinda like the way that feels," she said.

            "Then I'll make sure I do this all the time." I smiled back at her, and lifted our hands to my heart. "I'll keep it close to here."

            Kari jumped a bit, and I looked at her in concern, but she shook her head. "It's nothing. I just… I can feel your heart beating."

            "Oh." Relief washed over me. "It's a nice feeling," Kari commented. I looked at her, looked into her deep scarlet-brown eyes, and felt this feeling come over me… one that I had never experienced before. "You know what, Kari?"

            "What?"

            "You're very special to me. I'm so lucky to be here with you right now." 

            Kari said nothing, only leaned in closer to me and rested her head on my chest. "I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be right now," she whispered, as I held her closely, kissing her forehead softly. Just then, a slow song started, and Kari gasped. "Okay, just kidding," she said, as she got back up and pulled me with her. "How about we dance?"

            "Okay, I guess…"

            "Come on, T.K., do it for me," she pleaded, looking up at me with those huge doe eyes that she knew I couldn't say no to. "Okay, Kari, you win."

            Her bright smile lit up her face and she led me in, as I took her in my arms and we began to sway to the music, slowly getting lost in our own world.

_There's a song that's inside of my soul_

_It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again_

_I'm awake in the infinite cold,_

_but__ you sing to me over and over and over again_

_So I lay my head back down_

_and__ I lift my hands and pray to be only yours_

_I pray to be only yours_

_I know now you're my only hope_

            Kari and I gazed intently into each other's eyes, forgetting about everyone else in the room. It was just the two of us. We had been together only two weeks, but every day I knew more and more that this was right. I remembered something Kari had said months before we became a "couple": _You'll know love when it comes to you. Was this it? I mean, there had been other girls… I stopped my train of thought when I realized that unlike the many guys who had said, "there were other girls, but none compared to you," there __were no other girls. Kari had always been in my heart from the moment I met her—first as a peer and playmate, then as a friend, then as a best friend, and now… Somehow I couldn't describe how I felt for her, but I knew that it would constantly grow and couldn't compare to how I felt for anyone else._

            "T.K.?" Kari whispered.

            "Yes?" I whispered back.

            "What are you thinking about?"

            "You," I told her, holding her more tightly. "I was thinking about you and how much you mean to me."

            She smiled lightly and I smoothed back her hair. "What is it, Kari?"

            "Oh, nothing. I was just listening to the words of the song and how much they work with us… like when I'm sad and feel like there's no hope for me, that you'll always be there, my Hope." She smiled and caressed my cheek with her hand, and I placed my hand above hers. I loved the feeling that came whenever we touched—it was like a little spark that was always there, every time we made contact.

_Sing to me the song of the stars,_

_of__ your galaxies dancing and laughing and laughing again_

_When it feels like my dreams are so far,_

_sing__ to me of the plans that you have for me over again_

_So I lay my head back down_

_and__ I lift my hands and pray to be only yours_

_I pray to be only yours_

_I know now you're my only hope_

            I watched Kari intently as we slow danced. "Kari, you're so beautiful."

            "Thank you." Kari smiled shyly. "Thank you so much for all that you've done for me. You know, I pray to God every day thanking Him that He placed you in my life. I don't know where I'd be without you."

            "And I probably wouldn't be able to live without you, Light," I whispered back, kissing her forehead and then resting my own against hers.

            "That's a new one," Kari said, but she was smiling brightly. Not only was Light her crest, but it was also her name (Hikari means light in Japanese, for all you who didn't know), and I knew how much she loved it. "But I love it. Only you are allowed to call me that, okay?"

            "Okay, Light." Kari smiled again, making me smile. Her smile was so pretty, it just lit up her whole face… it made her look even more beautiful, if that was possible. I leaned down to kiss her, and it became one of the most meaningful kisses in all my life—it felt like we both knew that this was something really special, and we were trying to tell each other that.

_I give you my destiny_

_I'm giving you all of me_

_I want your symphony singing in all that I am_

_At the top of my lungs,_

_I'm giving it back_

_So I lay my head back down_

_and__ I lift my hand and pray to be only yours_

_I pray to be only yours_

_I pray to be only yours_

_I know now you're my only hope_

            "I love that song," Kari sighed wistfully as the song ended and a fast one started, while we went over to the refreshments table. "It makes me think of you… of us."

            "So why don't we make it 'our' song?" I suggested, making the quote sign with my fingers. Kari smiled her pretty smile again and nodded happily, hugging me and kissing me on the cheek. "Okay. It's perfect."

-A few weeks later… beginning of February-

            Life as an eighth grader was starting to become challenging. I wanted to spend all my free time with Kari—every moment I spent with her was just amazing—but there were issues like school, basketball, my novel (which had been placed on hold, coincidentally, since I had so many other things to do) and checking in with the Digimon and how the Digital World was doing once in a while. I found it harder and harder to spend time with Kari when school got more and more challenging, but she didn't seem to mind. At least, I didn't think she minded too much… we were both pretty busy.

            One day Kari came into the classroom and sat down, but not before giving me a hug. "Hey, T.K., check this out," she said. She handed me a folded piece of paper and I opened it to see:

**Odaiba********High********School********Art********Department****, calling all Eighth Graders!**

_Do you like singing, dancing, acting, playing an instrument, writing, drawing, painting, or sculpting? If you do, this is for you! Interviews and auditions are being held the week of February 10-14 for all those interested in becoming one of Odaiba High's great creative Jaguars! If you are interested, sign up in the office. Interview times will be announced. Please present an original composition (or write one to be presented) based upon the medium of your choice. This is not a competition, only a call to see who is interested in becoming another member of our wonderful __Art__Department__. Thank you for your interest and we hope to see you next week!_

            I looked at Kari. "This would be great!" But she didn't look too happy. "Light, what's wrong?"

            A faint smile played on her lips at my fond nickname for her, but she sighed. "I want to sing in the choir. But I have to write an original composition! I'm not talented enough for that!"

            "How about this—I'll write one for you, okay?"

            "Really?" Kari's eyes lit up. "You'll write a song for me?"

            "Sure! I'd love to be part of a creative writing class there anyway… if I write your song, does that count as my audition too?"

            Kari furrowed her eyebrows. "I think so. We'll check and make sure. How about we sign up together so that they know it's the two of us auditioning?"

            "Okay." I looked at my watch. "Do we have time right now?"

            "I don't think so. How about during lunch?"

            "That'd be great. I'll meet you then?"

            "Okay." She kissed me on the cheek, and I blushed a bit at the semi-public display of affection. "Thank you."

            "You know I'd do anything for you, right, Kari?" I whispered to her.

            She nodded. "I know, T.K. I know."

            "Hikari Kamiya, singing an original song written by Takeru Takaishi."

            Kari wrote the sentence down with a flourish and smiled. "How about that?"

            "Perfect. Does it say that I get to try out with the original composition?" I asked her, holding her with my arms around her waist as she looked at the flyer on the wall. 

            "Let's see… yeah! You can write anything—a play, a song, or just an essay—and they'll count it as a creative writing submission."

            "Yes!" I cheered. "I'm excited."

            Kari turned to face me. "Me too. I can't wait."

            Every time I tried to concentrate on the song I would write for Kari, either I wouldn't be able to write something, or something came up. I really wanted to work on the song that night (Monday) but nothing came to me. Tuesday was basketball practice; Wednesday I had tons of homework. Kari would ask me about the song—not bother me about it, but just hint at things ("So, T.K., what did you do last night?"), and as days went on I felt more and more guilty. On Thursday night (the compositions were due Friday and the interviews would start the Monday of the week after), right as I was sitting down to think about what to write about as a song, the phone rang. I hoped it was Kari.

            "T.K.?" a panicked voice asked. Not Kari's, but Matt's.

            "Matt? What's wrong?"

            "Um, we have a gig tomorrow and our guitarist is sick, do you think you can fill in for him, just for tonight?"

            I exhaled. "Matt, I have something really important to do. Can't you find someone else?"

            "I tried, T.K., I really did. I know you're busy and so I didn't want to ask you, but no one else is available. Please, T.K., the Wolves need you. This is our breakout performance—record companies are going to be there!"

            "I don't know, Matt…"

            "Please?" The request was more like a whimper, a small glimpse of the vulnerable, little-boy Matt that still peeped out once in a while.

            "Okay, okay, I'll do it. But not for long. I have a song to write."

            "You do?" Matt asked.

            "Yeah. It's for trying to get into the high school's creative writing program."

            "Well, why didn't you tell me? I'll help you out! That is, if you come and help me out."

            "Okay, fine. Only because I need your help, and only because this is so important to you."

            "T.K., thanks so much. I owe you one. I would hug you right now but I can't exactly do that, now can I?"

            "Nah. Go away, I'll see you later."

            "Okay, fine, be that way, Teeks. Later." I smiled as I hung up the phone. My brother and I messed around like that all the time. I was still really worried… I hope Kari wouldn't be mad at me if she called me tonight. And sure enough, right when I was about to leave for the practice, my phone rang again. "Hello?" I picked up breathlessly.

            "T.K.? I was just wondering… have you written the song yet?" It was Kari.

            "No… I'm sorry, but I have to go to Matt's band practice to fill in for one of his members who's sick. I'm only going because tomorrow is the first biggest performance for his band and because he'll help me write the song."

            "But you said you were going to do it!" Kari protested.

            "Don't worry, I will. I promise."

            "That's what you said on Monday and it's Thursday now. They're due first thing tomorrow. Remember, this is our only way to get into the programs we want."

            "I know, I know… listen, Kari, I hate to cut this short, but I gotta leave now if I want to make it to Matt's practice on time. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

            "But T.K.—"

            "I'm sorry, Kari, but I have to go now. I hope you'll understand."

            "Fine." I heard her exhale angrily and hang up. I did the same (not angrily, though) and hoped to God I could write a great song that was enough to make her forgive me.

-At the Teenage Wolves practice-

            "Okay, guys, that's a wrap. Take 5!" Matt yelled, and the other members of his band happily obliged. It was just him and me in the warehouse, and I sat on an old wood block and put my head in my hands. "Hey, T.K.!" Matt called from across the room.

            "What?" I mumbled, not looking up.

            "I want you to listen to this," Matt said. "It's a riff that we came up with and eventually made into a song, but we have no words to it."

            That caught my attention. I lifted my head expectantly, and Matt pushed play on a tape deck set up in the room. A very pretty melody spread through the room, and as I listened to it, it reminded me a whole lot of Kari. Suddenly, words started flowing together and I grabbed a nearby notebook and a pencil and started scribbling down ideas. As the whole song played through, a rush of inspiration came through me and I was able to jot down a lot of words. I smiled to myself and nodded as I read them over and made sense of them. This was going to be perfect.

            "T.K.? So what do you think?" Matt asked me, pulling me for a moment out of my creative state of mind.

            I grinned at him. "Matt, you're the best. Do you think I could borrow that?"

            "Sure, why? Do you have words for it now?"

            "Oh, yeah. This is exactly what I needed. Thanks, bro."

~*~

            I lay in bed that night, thinking over the words I had written down and the message they conveyed. Kari and I had been together for about a month and a half now, but I knew it was something really special. I realized that night that maybe Kari was the one person whom I was destined to spend the rest of my life with, my soulmate, my one true love. I furrowed my eyebrows at the word "love." It was so overrated and so commonly used that I didn't want to use it lightly. But the more I dwelled on it, the more I realized—I was in love with Kari. Her beautiful smile, her kind words, her ruby eyes… everything about her was just so perfect, and I cringed at the pain I must have caused her earlier. But that song… those words that had come together to form that song… they explained exactly how I felt about her, something words alone couldn't express. I just hoped it would be enough to make Kari forgive me.

~*~

            Kari wouldn't even look at me the next day, and I felt something totally new and totally different. It wasn't jealousy, or anything like that… it felt more like an emptiness, and as the day went on, I realized how dull my life was without Kari in it like the way she was now. Knowing that, I came to a decision.

            During lunch, I sat down next to her, but she just scooted away from me. "Kari?" I asked, again. She didn't answer.

            "Kari."

            She looked at me, but still no answer. She didn't have to speak—her eyes said it all. I saw all the pain in them that I knew would be there, and I sighed heavily. "Light, I'm sorry."

            "I tried to understand that you were busy, but you did _everything except the one little thing I needed. So everything else is more important than I am? T.K., I just asked you for one simple favor, and you didn't deliver. You promised me you'd always be there when I needed you, but you didn't come through!" Kari burst out. It was the most she'd said to me all day. And I realized that I was wrong to assume she wouldn't mind my busyness._

            "Look, Kari, you have to believe me when I say that I really was trying to write something, but nothing came to me."

            "So does that mean we forfeit our audition?" she asked, her eyes still narrowed.

            "No. I submitted a song."

            Kari crossed her arms. "Really. Must I sing some meaningless thrown-together ideas that probably have no real sense to them?"

            I ran my hand through my hair, sighing. Kari was really upset. "Kari, I'm sorry. And no, you don't have to sing meaningless thrown-together ideas."

            "Why should I believe you, after you broke your promise?" Kari countered.

            I took a deep breath and said the five words that would change everything.

            "Because I love you, Hikari."

            Her expression suddenly softened from one of anger to one of surprise. "Really?" she breathed.

            I nodded. "Yes, I do. I've always loved you. I just didn't realize how much until last night. And if you still don't believe me, read this." I pushed a folded-up piece of paper into her hand.

            She took it, opened it, and smiled, small pools of tears forming in her eyes. "Oh, T.K., that is so sweet of you."

            "It's true, you know. All of it."

            Kari looked up at me, and then suddenly kissed me, with a passion that I didn't know she had. We were going at it for a few minutes, her sitting in my lap, my hands running up and down her back, her hands in my hair, when she pulled away abruptly. "I… what… whoa."

            "Nice vocabulary, Teeks." Kari smiled.

            "Teeks, huh? Not sure if I like that one."

            "Well, you're stuck with it. Anyway, I forgot to tell you something."

            "Yes?" I asked, still holding her closely.

            "I love you, too, T.K. More than anything." 

            I smiled brightly and kissed my love's forehead, then smiled more as she leaned in closer to me, resting her head on my chest. _How did I ever survive without this precious gift in my life?_

~*~

_I wonder how I ever made it through a day_

_How did I settle for a world in shades of gray?_

_When you go in circles, all the scenery looks the same_

_and__ you don't know why_

_Then I looked into your eyes,_

_where__ the road stretched out in front of me, and I realized_

_I never lived before your love_

_I never felt before your touch_

_I never needed anyone to make me feel alive_

_But then again, I wasn't really living_

_I never lived before your love_

            I was sitting in the very empty room, watching Kari sing my song for her. As the words flowed from her mouth, I watched in awe. The words themselves were meaningful on paper, but with Kari's voice delivering them, their meaning was taken to a whole new level. Kari had told me earlier that the second time she read through the song, she realized that it described her life perfectly, and tearfully, gratefully, threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. "You've done so much for me, T.K., that I can't imagine my life without you." And we officially declared it our other song, with more meaning, since it really was based on us… we had inspired it.

            Now, during her audition, I was confident that she would make it into the performing arts department. Kari had such an awesome voice, but it was one of those talents that she kept hidden.

_I wanted more than just an ordinary life_

_All of my dreams seemed like castles in the sky_

_I stand before you and my heart is in your hands_

_and__ I don't know how I survived without your kiss_

_'cause you've given me a reason to exist_

_And I don't know why,_

_why__ the sun decides to shine,_

_but__ you breathed your love into me just in time_

_I never lived before your love_

_I never felt before your touch_

_I never needed anyone to make me feel alive_

_But then again, I wasn't really living_

_I never lived,_

_I never lived before your love_

~*~

(a week later)

            It was now Valentine's Day, and instead of eating lunch with everyone else, Kari and I decided we were going to have a picnic on the grassy area behind one of the buildings. Actually, it was Kari's idea. We were heading out to lunch when I realized that the results of the interviews/auditions would be up. Basically, it was the callback list, and if we made the callback list, they would ask us each to submit a work of ours (or a live audition for the performing arts). I caught a glimpse of it on my way out, and we had both made it onto the list (yes!). Kari was too preoccupied with something—I found out what later—to notice. I was heading out to where we usually hung out, but then Kari tugged on my arm. "Yes?"

            "We're not going that way today," she told me, a twinkle in her eye.

            "Really. And where would we be going, then?"

            "You'll see." She took my hand and led me to a semi-secluded area at the school that I didn't even know about. "Here we are."

            I saw a simple blanket with a basket on it. We sat down and began to eat, as I looked intently at Kari. She saw this and looked at me wonderingly. "What?"

            "Nothing… it's just that I love a woman who takes initiative," I told her. 

            She looked down meekly. "It's just my way of thanking you for all you do for me," she told me, softly. Kari looked back up at me, right into my eyes, and that strange feeling I'd had the night I'd asked her out, feeling vulnerable but at the same time in the safest place in the world, came over me again. A chill went down my spine and as I gazed back at her, I realized I could read not just what Kari was feeling, but it felt like I could see into her very essence. It was like I was seeing into her soul… a glimpse of who she really was. I opened my arms to her and she willingly came to them, as I held her tight and kissed the crown of her head. "Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you so much." 

            "I love you, Takeru," Kari replied simply. And somehow, in those four words, she told me all I really needed to know.

So what did you think, guys? Let me know! Review review review review review review review! (You get the point.) Please? I'm going through review withdrawal—I have 8 stories up here and haven't gotten a single review in a week! *tear* Give me a Christmas present!


	9. Interlude Two: Crossroads

**an: Happy new year, everyone! 2003 is here! whoo-hoo! (Although I still can't really feel it, it's definitely here.) It's so weird because I'm graduating this year… but anyways, let me get to what I have to tell y'all.**

**SORRY FOR THE DELAY!**

I thought I was going to be able to write a lot during this break, but things came up—one being (maybe) a new boyfriend *crosses fingers* so I'm really excited (and guess what guys—he writes fanfic too! Except for Star Wars, not Digimon)—and plus, writer's block kicked in a lot. UGH. So. This (sorry guys, a break from the Takari) is a little on the long side because of that (to make it up to you guys for waiting so long). If you don't get the ending, that's okay. It'll be explained in depth later in the next interlude. And if the next chapter isn't up in a while, please don't throw your shoes at me. I'm a busy girl, and when you add that to writer's block it's not a pretty combo. So yeah. Read, enjoy, review, and put me on another natural high! (Reviews do that to you, you know.)

*

One Light, One Hope

Interlude Two: Crossroads

            Aaron Kamiya-Takaishi drummed his fingers boredly on his "desk," the table that was attached to every seat in his lecture hall. This was the last day of school before winter break, and his last day at an East Coast institution of higher learning until… forever, practically. For this weekend, he was flying back out to Santa Monica, California, where his father, sister, and girlfriend were. Now, if he could only survive this physics class, everything would be fine.

            "Why did I have to take physics?" he muttered to himself as the professor droned on about something called torque, which Aaron didn't quite understand. Aaron was majoring in journalism, so he had no idea why they made him take physics as a "general ed" course. 

            Suddenly, his cell phone went off, which elicited a few annoyed stares by his classmates, but Aaron didn't care. It was his last day here anyway. He eagerly reached for his phone, grateful for the distraction, and looked at the display. He had a text message.

_Aaron—I miss you. Counting the hours until you come back. Much love, __Kendall___

            Aaron smiled at the simple, but very meaningful message. Kendall Motomiya, his girlfriend for about a month and a half, was in California with his dad and his sister Hope, Kendall's best friend, and he missed her a lot. They'd been separated only four days into their relationship, but kept in touch most of the time—thanks mostly to Hope, who was an up-and-coming recording artist who was constantly flying from sea to shining sea. Aaron's and Hope's mom, Kari, was in New York with Aaron, and was trying to tie up loose ends so that she could go back to Santa Monica and Aaron's and Hope's father, her fiancé. However, it wasn't quite working out as much as Kari wanted it to—her boss had told her that she needed to work at least four months in New York before she could go back to the Santa Monica branch. Everyone in the Kamiya-Takaishi clan was grateful that Hope was on both coasts a lot—they were also able to plan a lot of the wedding stuff because of that. 

            Still paying no attention to the lesson at hand, Aaron wrote Kendall back:

_Kendall__—Can't wait to see you again. Miss you, love. I promise we'll be together soon. _

_Thinking of you always, Aaron_

~*~

(Santa Monica)

            "Hello? Anyone home?"

            Kendall walked into the foyer of what she considered to be her second home, and called out. The coolest thing about living with this family was that everyone had a non-conventional schedule, which meant any person could be home at any given time. Kendall liked that a lot. Because she was a college student (she had skipped a grade back in elementary school), she was able to rig her schedule, too, which meant she fit in perfectly with the rest of them. And since she had just finished up her finals and was off for a week, she had a lot of time on her hands.

            "Hey, Kendall!" The redhead smiled at the unmistakable voice of her best friend, and Kendall walked into the living room and looked up at the loft. "Hey, you. What are you up to?"

            "I'm going to New York this weekend. Wanna come?" Hope referred to this casually only because she went there every other weekend, mostly for promotions or some other things. This time, she had an interview and performance on MTV's Total Request Live, plus she was going to help her mom pick out a wedding dress. She also knew this weekend Aaron was finishing up all his loose ends in the Big Apple and was planning to come back to California, so she figured Kendall would want to come.  Hope wanted her to. It was lonely sometimes in those airports.

            "And see Aaron sooner? Of course!" Hope smiled. She was right. "Not to mention free TRL seats, and seeing all of 'N Sync reunited," she chimed in, and Kendall squealed. "You're not serious."

            "Dead serious, hon. What do you say?"

            "Heck yeah!" Kendall was practically jumping up and down. 

            "Then we're set! Except for one thing—my plane leaves tonight and lands Friday morning, and we've only got a few hours until the plane leaves."

            "Seriously? How long are we gonna be there?"

            "Probably until Sunday morning, so pack light. It's not like you won't ever go there again."

            "Yeah, but I want to go shopping there!"

            Hope laughed. "Okay. I'll see what I can pull. Maybe while Mom is looking for a wedding dress."

            Kendall rushed up the stairs to meet her friend and to start packing for her trip to New York, and her reunion with Aaron. She was psyched.

~*~

(The next day, in the NY apartment)

            Hope kept pressing the buzzer, but no one would answer. "Gee, you'd think that at seven am on a Saturday morning, that someone would be home," she grumbled.

            Finally a faint "Hello?" could be heard. "Mom? Mom, it's me," Hope said into the speaker.

            "Okay, Hope, hold on a sec." There was a buzz and the door unlocked for the two girls, and Hope gratefully threw it open. "Finally."

            Kendall didn't say much, partly because she was tired, partly because she was remembering the last time she'd been here, but mostly because she knew she'd see Aaron soon. That alone should have woken her up, but she wasn't able to get much sleep on that plane.

            Finally, they made it to the top floor, and Hope knocked distinctly (but not loudly) on the apartment door. Being the wonderful surprise girl that she was (Hope was always the best at pulling off surprises), Aaron, again, didn't suspect a thing about Kendall being here. Kendall was waiting with anticipation when the door opened to reveal Kari Kamiya, Hope's mom.

            "Oh, Hope… hi," Kari warmly greeted her daughter, with a big hug. "Here, let me get that for you."

            The two girls wandered into the apartment and Kendall noticed how much more empty it looked from the last time she was here. Hope noticed this and explained, "It's quite frustrating to come back with more than you came with. We've worked out this plan for me to bring back a couple of boxes and stuff every time I come so that by the time Mom moves out of here, she doesn't have to bring much."

            "By the way, Hope, there's your next project," Kari pointed out, gesturing to two big boxes in the corner. Hope smiled weakly and replied unenthusiastically, "Thanks, Mom."

            "Hey, Aaron's coming home with you this time, so you'll have help. But, you'll also have a few more boxes of his stuff, so I guess they cancel each other out."

            "Where is Aaron, by the way?" Kendall piped up. It was the most she had said since getting off the plane.

            "Oh… hi, Kendall, I totally forgot about you coming here. He's not here right now, he had a few things to clear up with the college. But he'll be here shortly."

            "Okay."

            "So, do you girls want anything to eat?" Kari asked. "I can make something for you guys." Thankfully, Kari had not inherited her mother's cooking skills. In fact, she had quite the opposite—she cooked fairly decently, but not anything fancy.

            "Um… not really. Do you think I can just sleep?" Kendall asked. Kari smiled.

            "Of course, honey. You can use the bed in Aaron's room, if you want." She looked at her son's girlfriend knowingly and Kendall smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Ms. Kamiya."

            "Please, call me Kari. You've been around us long enough that you don't have to be formal with us."

            "Okay, Ms…. Kari." Kendall then wandered into Aaron's room and practically passed out on his bed from all the tiredness she felt.

            "Jet lag." Hope shook her head. "Always gets 'em."

            "You shouldn't talk, Hope, the first time you came here you were really tired, too."

            "True. You know what, I think I'll take you up on your offer, Mom," Hope said, as Kari nodded and started moving around the kitchen. "I have to be at MTV Studios at 11 am, and it's going to take a while, I think, for taping and stuff. I need the energy."

            "I hear you, Hope. It's coming." Kari cracked some eggs and for some reason unknown to her, started scrambling them. Hope watched her mother make the eggs and when she was done and began on the Spam (sliced into thin pieces and fried), Hope was amazed. It was true that she had become closer with her mother in the last several months, but she didn't know everything about Hope… did she?

            "Okay, there you go," Kari said cheerfully, setting a plate of Spam, eggs, and plain white rice (AN: mmm! good stuff. maybe I'll have some tomorrow morning. as an Asian myself, I know from experience how good that stuff is. =D) in front of her daughter. Hope looked up at her, in awe. "Mom… how did you know that this is my favorite?"

            Kari smiled. "You do remember that I raised you until you were four, right?"

            "Yeah, but… that was ages ago!"

            "A mother doesn't forget these things," Kari said wisely, a hint of sadness creeping into her voice. Hope's eyes watered slightly as she smiled at her mother. "Thank you."

            Kari just sat and watched her daughter gratefully, thankful that she had this chance to be with her.

            A couple of hours later, Hope was rushing to get herself ready for her TRL performance, and was about to rush right out the door when someone rushed right into the door. The two of them collided. "Ow!" Aaron exclaimed.

            "Sorry about that, big bro," Hope said, brushing herself off. "My fault."

            Aaron smiled broadly. "Hope! Hey!" He hugged her tightly and Hope squeaked, "Um. Aaron. I need to go."

            Aaron blushed and let his little sister go. "Sorry about that, Hope. I'll see you later?"

            "Yeah. I don't know if you want to come with us to look for Mom's wedding gown, so if you don't, I'll see you even later than I would have before."

            Aaron nodded slowly, then smiled in understanding. "Okay. 'Bye, Hope. Have fun. I'll be watching for you."

            Hope beamed. "Okay. Later." She went out the door and Aaron greeted his mother. "Hey, Mom. I don't have to deal with that college any longer. Yes!!!" Aaron pumped his fist into the air excitedly and Kari laughed. "So, do you have any plans for today?"

            "I'm probably just going to pack up the rest of my stuff. Not that I have much more to do."

            "Okay. Hope and I are going later to find a wedding dress for me, you're welcome to come along, but you don't have to."

            "That's what everyone tells me. Well, let me know if you're leaving, and I'll decide whether or not to come with. Where are you going anyway?"

            "I've always wanted the kind of dresses they have over on 5th Avenue, but I wasn't ever able to afford it. Now with Hope's career taking off we might be able to. She promised me she'd help me out with whatever I needed."

            "Sweet girl, my sister is. Don't you just love her?"

            Kari smiled. "I do. She's turned out so beautifully. I am so grateful to your father for that."

            Aaron nodded and said, "Well, I'm going to go finish up in my room now, okay, Mom?"

            Kari smiled, a twinkle in her eyes, not unlike her daughter's sometimes. "What?" Aaron asked, suspiciously.

            "Oh, nothing… just go to you room."

            "Ookay…" Aaron shrugged and headed to his humble abode. As he walked in the door, he saw a figure on his bed that he didn't recognize at first, but then smiled brightly as he realized that his girl was sleeping peacefully on his bed. He set his stuff down gently and then knelt next to the bed, right in front of Kendall's head. She slowly stirred and blinked her eyes open, and then gasped. "Aaron!"

            "Kendall, hi," he said softly, kissing her. "I missed you so much."

            "I did too." She sat up and hugged her boyfriend tightly. "When did you get in?"

            "Just now. I didn't know you were going to be here," Aaron said.

            "Trust your sister. You know how good she is at that." Then her eyebrows furrowed. "Where is Hope, anyway?"

            "She just left, said she needed to go to some taping or whatever."

            Kendall gasped. "Oh, my gosh. I was supposed to go with! How long does it take to get to Times Square?"

            "Maybe thirty minutes? Something like that."

            "Oh, man, I have to go! I don't want to miss 'N Sync reunited!"

            Aaron laughed. "Okay. Well since you're here, I guess I'll go dress shopping with you guys. Where are we going to meet?"

            "I don't know. I'll call you when I do, okay?" Kendall kissed Aaron softly. "And I'm really glad to be with you again," she whispered, before she left the room. Aaron flopped down on his bed and smiled. "I have the best sister ever."

~*~

(Later)

            The four of them had decided they were going to meet at 5th Avenue and take things from there. Kendall and Hope had already gotten there and were window shopping when two arms snaked around Kendall. She jumped, but then turned around to see Aaron. "Hi, you," he greeted her.

            "Please, enough with the mush already," Hope sighed. "You two are impossible."

            "Hey, we haven't seen each other for a month and a half, okay?" Aaron retorted. "Besides, you're just jealous that you don't have a boyfriend."

            "Aaron, Hope, please, don't start with that," Kari pleaded, noticing the hurt look in her younger child's eyes. "We're here for a happy event." Then she turned to Hope. "Do you want to buy your dress here too?"

            "If you want me to, Mom," Hope replied softly, still reeling from the remark from her brother.

            After a couple of hours, it was basically Hope and her mother doing the dress shopping; Kendall and Aaron were in a world entirely their own. Hope was happy that her best friend got to see her boyfriend, but her brother was just being obnoxious. She was detracted by her thoughts by Kari.

            "Hope, you have to come see this. I think this is it."

            Hope turned to see her mother in a simple, yet elegant two-piece white gown: the top was sleeveless, shimmery and tied in the back; it covered most of her back, but her lower back was exposed, except for the tie in the back and a string of translucent beads that went across Kari's back. The satin skirt wasn't poofy, but instead just flowed out and down lightly until it reached the floor, and the front was slightly shorter than the back. There was a detachable train on the skirt and the veil Kari had found, a gauzy, lacy fabric encrusted with rhinestones, was attached to her head by a small tiara.

            Hope smiled at her mom. "Mom, you look amazing. Just like an angel."

            Kari returned her daughter's smile. "I'm hoping your father will think so." Hope nodded and then said, "Hang on." She went and got her brother, who was sitting down on the couch with Kendall and whispering something in her ear (she was laughing), and cleared her throat. "Kendall, can I take Aaron from you for just a sec?" she asked.

            "What? Yeah, no problem." Hope smiled sweetly at her and then turned to her brother. "I have to show you something." She took him around the corner to where her mother was standing and Aaron's breath caught in his throat. Kari saw him from the reflection in the mirror and she smiled at him. "Mom… wow…you look amazing." For the first time that day Aaron was focusing on something other than his girl, and Hope was happy. She loved Kendall and everything, but their mother was the most important one here.

            "Thanks, Aaron." Then she turned to her daughter. "So I should get this one?"

            "Definitely," Aaron and Hope said together, then looked at each other and smiled. They had always been special children—being the children of Light and Hope, they shared a special bond—but they didn't show it as much anymore.

~*~

(At the airport)

            "'Bye, Mom," Hope said, her eyes moist, as she hugged her mother goodbye. Kari, whose eyes were moister than usual, hugged her tight and whispered, "'Bye, Hope. Come visit me soon."

            "I will." Hope brushed a stray tear out of her mother's eyes and smiled. "You'll be back before we know it, Mom. And until then, I'll still come out."

            "I know. You know I always cry when you leave, Hope." Hope nodded and laughed—this was true. "But," Kari continued, "my other baby's leaving me too, leaving me all alone."

            Aaron rolled his eyes. "Mom, I'm eighteen."

            "It doesn't matter if you're eighteen or forty-eight, you'll always be my baby boy," Kari shot back. (A/N: My mom does that all the time. LOL)

            Aaron sighed, then tightly hugged his mother. "I'll miss you, Mom. Don't let anything happen to you from now until you come back, okay?"

            "I'll try," Kari said, her eyes watery. Kari had known that this day would come from the day it was just her and six-year-old Aaron. She just didn't know that it would come so soon—or so unconventionally. Aaron was moving away, but back to his father's house. So in a way, he wasn't really moving—it was just a long separation. Still, Kari couldn't help letting the tears fall as she watched her children leave, disappearing into the cloudless sky.

Meanwhile…

            The plane was quite empty, so the passengers were going around and switching seats. Hope didn't want to spend any more time near her older brother and his girlfriend than she had to—she was tired of the mush she had to deal with, it just made her feel even more lonely than she already did. Lately, with all the traveling she'd been doing on her own, Hope had been feeling lonely, but not like she didn't have any friends. No, she felt an emptiness inside that she didn't know how to fill. It was totally out of character for her—after all, her name said everything—but she still felt it anyway. Especially when she'd see couples walking hand in hand, or witnessing a truly touching, but private moment. Aaron and Kendall were not helping at all. She loved them both, really she did, but seeing them together just reminded her of how lonely and empty she felt. So Hope moved to another seat and sat down, leaning her chair back and closing her eyes, trying to rest. That is, until she heard a voice…

            "Hey, can I sit here?"

            Hope opened her eyes, then looked up and remembered those stunning hazel eyes looking back at her. Then she remembered the last time she'd been with that guy.

*Flashback*

            _Hope blinked her eyes open and groaned. She had the most horrible headache in the world, and her stomach wasn't feeling too pleasant. She rolled over on her side and squinted to see the time: __11:24 a.m.__ Then she closed her eyes in pain—the bright sun was too much for her to take right now. "The light… it burns!" she hoarsely whispered. (AN: stole that one from my brother! =D)__ Hoarse. That was not a good thing. Hope tried to think through the cloud that her brain was immersed in, and slowly, the events of the past night came to her. "Kevin…" she thought. "Did he… no. Nothing happened."  But if there was any reason for her to stay away from alcohol__, she thought dryly, this would be it.__ She reached onto her nightstand to find aspirin and a glass of water, and eagerly, she took it and lay back down again. Hope vowed never to feel that horrible again._

*Real time*

            "Kevin?" she asked, in a whisper. "Is that you?"

            The guy looked at her strangely, half in surprise that she knew his name and half in confusion, as if he was trying to place her face.

            "Hope, right?" he said after a while, sitting down.

            "Yeah!" Hope smiled. "Hey, what's up? Oh, and go ahead and sit down, that's fine." She felt strange inside—it's not like she fell head over heels in love at second sight with this guy, but there was something inside her that sparked, and she took a deep breath to try and calm herself.

            "Hey. I kind of expected you not to talk to me after the last incident," Kevin began, cringing a bit. "If it's any consolation, I woke up with one hell of a hangover on New Year's Day."

            "Tell me about it," Hope replied. But she waved a hand nonchalantly and said, "Hey, it's okay. It wasn't your fault—they were drenching us in champagne."

            Kevin smiled weakly. "I guess." Then he looked over at his seatmate. "So how has life for you been since then? You fly between East and West Coast all the time too?"

            Hope nodded. "Yup. You know the deal—Dad's in L.A., Mom's in New York, what not. Except that this time, my brother is coming out with me and staying in L.A. with us. All we need now is my mom and things would be perfect."

            "Yeah… I don't intend to fly back to New York anytime soon. The band decided we're going to stay based in Southern California, and we needed to take care of some last-minute things. That's why I'm on this plane."

            Hope smiled. "Southern California, huh? Well it looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other, then."

            Kevin just smiled back and replied, "That'd be awesome."

ooh, what could this mean for Hope? Will she find the thing she's been looking for? We'll get back to our main Takari story, then after chapter nine you'll find out! =D review review review, i haven't gotten any in a LONG time! =(


	10. Chapter Seven: Promises

**an**: I am ALIVE! Rejoice and be glad, everyone! =D I'm sorry it took me so freaking long to update, but you know, life gets in the way… school (ugh)… extra-curriculars… my wonderful boyfriend (yay!)… but I finally got over my writer's block, thanks to the surprise party I threw with a whole bunch of my boyfriend's other friends… you'll see some of that here. And, I was originally going to make this chapter longer, but I decided where I ended it was a good stopping place (it's already six pages long!) and if I do decide to add on to this chapter, I'll add it on when I'm done writing. I figured you guys have been waiting long enough. For now, enjoy. Let me know what you think. 

A few notes…

-T.K., Kari, Davis, and Ken are now sophomores in high school. (A two-year lapse since the last chapter. Haha, that's almost what it feels like since the last time I updated, doesn't it?) There is a tiny, tiny bit of Davis bashing, but not much. I actually paint him in a good light! Be proud!

-I actually did the research for the ring just for this chapter. Again, be proud. So I hope my info is correct, but if it's not, let me know.

-_K9: Sorry, no Digimon in this story. I think I stated somewhere in the beginning chapters of the prequel ("Together Again") that I wasn't going to include Digimon unless I absolutely had to (like chapter 1 of this story) so there are no Digimon to be found, much less Digi-couples. However, there are a few stories I've read with Digi-couplings… like "Till the End of All", "The Grass is Greener," and some others that I can't think of right now. Sorry if you don't like this Digi-coupleless story because of that fact, but I don't intend to write it in anytime soon. If you don't want to read this anymore, then don't. No one's stopping you._

And to my loyal and true readers… here you are. Sorry it took so long. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I've written it too many times. You know they're not mine. (Fiona and Sabrina are, but that doesn't mean much.)

*****

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Seven: Promises

            "Okay, class, here are your assignments for your cultural projects," our teacher announced, and all of us groaned.

            I was sitting in my tenth grade world history class, and our teacher had told us a few weeks ago about the upcoming cultural project she was assigning, worth major points, and we would do our presentations on our final days. We had a month to work on it, and we had a whole bunch of criteria that had to be covered by this project. While I was half pondering what I would get, and half pondering what Kari was doing in her literature class, Ms. Takenaga began calling out each person's country. There were a few groans, a "YES!" from this girl Aieko, who got America—all of us were jealous; that was the one country we all wanted to do—and some other, more neutral reactions, until Ms. Takenaga finally called out my name.

            "Takeru Takashi. Ireland."

            I nodded to myself as I wrote down my assignment. Ireland. It wasn't too far away from France, where my grandparents lived, but it was kind of far removed. There were a lot of different Irish things that I'd heard about, so it was going to be an interesting assignment.

-lunchtime-

            "Hey, guys," I greeted everyone as I approached the table, putting my arms around Kari's shoulders. It had been almost two years now since Kari and I had been going out, and we had our share of problems, but hey, we were still together. Every day I felt so blessed to have this angel in my world… it never ceased to amaze me how lucky I was, and the feeling I got whenever I saw her or hugged her… even now.

            "Hey," Kari replied softly, giving half of her attention to the book and worksheets in front of her. "Lit homework again?" I asked.

            Kari groaned. "Our teacher's evil. I swear."

            "I'm sorry." I kissed the crown of her hair lightly and then sat down next to her. We were just hanging out at the table, talking about what had been going on that day, when all of a sudden, a voice asked,

            "Is it okay if I sit here?"

            We all turned and looked at the owner of the voice; she was a tall, skinny, redhead with long, bright, curly red hair and jade green eyes. That wasn't the only different thing about her… her accent was different, and I was trying to figure out where I had heard it before.

            "Sure," Yolei answered, scooting over so that the girl could have a seat. She smiled gratefully and sat down next to her.

            "I haven't seen you around the school before," Davis noticed. We all looked at him in shock. "What?" he demanded, when all of our eyes were on him.

            "You… actually… noticed… something!" Yolei gasped. 

            "Well… yeah." Davis shrugged. "It's something you kind of have to do when you want to pass your classes," he said nonchalantly.

            Ken looked over at him with a touch of admiration in his voice. "I may regret saying this later, but Davis, you've really matured."

            "Ahh, well…" Davis waved his hand, as if the matter were unimportant. "We've all got to grow up sometime."

            The table took on a new, thoughtful silence and then Kari spoke. "So, as Davis kindly pointed out… are you new here?" she asked, her question directed to the redhead.

            The girl nodded. "Yeah. My name's Fiona O'Connelly. I'm an exchange student from Ireland."

            My eyes widened. "Yes!" I yelled, standing up, but then realized the looks everyone was giving me, and sat back down again. "T.K., are you okay?" Kari asked.

            "Yeah… I'm sorry, Fiona… it's just that I have this huge cultural project that I have due in about three weeks and I have to do my report on Ireland and the Irish culture."

            Fiona gave me a warm smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll help you out if you need me to. That's why I came here, to Japan—I wanted to know more about your culture. That, and my mom's here. She's a UN ambassador."

            "Wow," Sabrina Rioko, a member of our "group" that we acquired last year, "that is so awesome." She had always dreamed of becoming a diplomat—she was the peacemaker in our group.

            Fiona nodded. "So… what are your guyses' names and what grades are you in?"

            "Well, I'm Yolei Inoue, and I'm a junior. This table is pretty much overtaken with sophomores, though," Yolei informed Fiona.

            "I'm Ken Ichijouji," Ken introduced himself.

            Davis followed suit. "I'm Davis Motomiya, It's a pleasure to meet you, Fiona."

            Fiona flushed a bit, then smiled and replied, "You, too, Davis."

            I leaned over and whispered in Kari's ear as the introductions followed around the table, "I think he only noticed the fact that Fiona was new because he hadn't noticed her before… if you know what I mean." Kari looked at me and smiled faintly, but her eyes sparkled. Finally, it was my turn to introduce myself.

            "I'm Takeru Takaishi, but everyone calls me T.K.," I told her.

            "And I'm Hikari Kamiya, also known as Kari," Kari finished. Fiona nodded and said, "Wow, that's a lot of people to remember." Then she looked at me. "T.K…. right?"

            "Yeah."

            "What do you need to know about Ireland?"

            I sighed. "A whole lot."

            Over the next few weeks, we not only got to know Fiona better as a person (she and Sabrina shared a love of Lord of the Rings—with her coming from Ireland and everything, Fiona of course loved it and knew much more about it than any Japanese person could ever know; she and I shared a love of writing, which was really cool; she was also somewhat of a computer whiz, like Yolei; and she and Davis, we suspected, shared some sort of attraction), but we got to know her culture better. Or, at least I did.

            "Okay, so the majority of Ireland is still Catholic, right?" I confirmed, running down my list of criteria. We already had the basics—famous Irish people, colors associated with them, location, and some ancient background. However, there was a lot more to it than that.

            Fiona nodded. "Yup. Most of us are Catholic." To add depth to her statement, she made the Sign of the Cross dramatically. I laughed. "You ever going to try out for theater?"

            She shrugged. "Maybe. I love acting, but you never know, there are other things that may take preference over that. Like academics."

            I rolled my eyes. "Oh, are you one of those super smart people who take all those accelerated courses?"

            "Is that what you call them here? We call them honors classes back where I'm from."

            "Yeah, we all know—they're the classes for the really smart people." I smiled at her, to show her that I was just kidding. "Yolei and Izzy are in them. Kari's in a few, too. I could have taken them but I really didn't want to."

            "Izzy?" Fiona inquired, a puzzled look on her face.

            I nodded. "Yeah. He's a senior. One of our good friends though."

            "I see." 

            I looked down at the list of stuff I had yet to do, and crossed Religion off of it. "Hmm… oh, what are some of your traditions?"

            Fiona's eyes sparkled. "The Irish have a lot of traditions," she said.

            "Give me one of them that I can present in the oral part of the presentation."

            I saw Fiona glance down at her hand, and I noticed a silver glint on it. Then she looked up and told me one of the wonderful traditions the Irish had.

            "This," she began, "is a claddagh ring." She pointed to the silver ring with a heart in the middle of two hands and topped with a crown. "It's usually given to someone by someone else, and is a symbol of love. The way you wear it depends on your 'status' when you get it." 

            "Status?" I wondered aloud, a bit confused.

            "Yeah." Fiona smiled. "This ring was given to me by my grandmother—it's sort of a family heirloom—and I wear it with the crown facing towards me, you see?" She showed me, and sure enough, it looked like she was wearing the ring upside down. "This means I don't have a love, like a romance. I forget how the poem states it exactly, but that's how you wear it if you're not involved. Now, if I _was_ involved, I would wear it the other way—right side up. And if I was married… I think… then I would wear the ring on my left hand. There's a poem that goes with it, but I don't remember exactly how it goes. I'm sure I have it at home, though. I'll try to find it for you as soon as possible."

            I nodded to myself as I wrote all the information down. "Thanks, Fiona. You're a lifesaver."

            "It's nothing. If you really want to thank me, you'd tell me what that strange substance is that you're eating," she retorted, recoiling as I popped another bit of sushi in my mouth.

            "You mean you've never heard of sushi before?" I asked her, in between bites.

            Fiona shook her head. "You do remember that I'm from Ireland, not America."

            I raised an eyebrow. "Girl, you have a LOT that you need to learn."

            Weeks passed, and I worked feverishly on my cultural project. Fiona had given me so much information that I had to sort a lot of it out into where it belonged. The one thing that stood out at me was that ring. Every time I wrote about it, I thought about Kari, and how I wanted so badly to get her one. Finally, the day before I was to turn in my project, I finished putting the written part together and called up Fiona—she actually lived in the same apartment building as I did, as I later found out. 

            "What is it?" she asked, breathless, the moment I let her in the door.

            I held up my finished project. "This."

            "Ooh! Let me see!" she squealed, as she sat on my sofa and started flipping through the pages. Then she looked up at me. "It looks pretty good so far."

            "Hey, Fiona? Can I ask you something?" I asked her. (**AN**: Don't worry guys, nothing's going to happen. This is a TAKARI, remember? =D)

            "Yeah?"

            "Where can you get a claddagh ring? I kinda… well…" I fidgeted nervously. "I want to give one to Kari."

            Fiona's eyes sparkled and she smiled. "Aww… well, my family always has some, we always give them to people when they turn a certain age. I'll see if I can find one for you, okay?"

            "Okay. Thanks."

            The next day, I walked into my world history class after taking a killer math final, and sat down, resting my head on the desk to rest my brain for a bit. After a few minutes I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and found Fiona. (She had transferred into our class after a scheduling mix-up, and was given Japan as her cultural project.) "T.K.! I have something you could use." She put a piece of paper on my desk, on which was attached a small bag.

            I looked at it more closely. The paper, which looked old and worn, had a few words on it, and inside the bag was a silver claddagh ring. I smiled at Fiona. "Thanks a bunch. Kari's birthday's coming up soon and… this would make the perfect present."

            "No problem. Now you get up there and knock 'em dead." I nodded and took the piece of paper she had given to me, as well as all my other materials, and began my presentation. 

            "And finally… one of the wonderful Irish traditions is the claddagh ring, a symbol of love, friendship, and loyalty. There are certain ways you can wear it: _Wear the ring on your right hand, the crown turned **inwards**_ and the ring will symbolize love, loyalty, friendship. Wear the ring on your right hand, the crown turned _**outwards**__ and the heart towards your heart if your heart is taken. Wear the ring on your left hand, the crown turned **outwards **__and the heart towards your heart if you're committed to each other."_

            I finished up my project and bowed modestly, as I gave the written part of the presentation to our teacher. As I watched the rest of the class give their presentations, my mind wandered. It was our last day of finals, so we were probably going to go do something later, and Kari's birthday was coming up… it was her sweet sixteen… and I wanted to do something special for her. It was, after all, our two-year anniversary.

            After practice that day, I trudged home… I was tired… finals had taken a lot out of my brain… I just wanted to relax and maybe sleep. As I neared my house I reached into my pocket and found the ring Fiona had given me earlier. I was rushed then, but now I saw how pretty the ring really was. It was silver, with a tiny bluish stone in the center of the heart—perfect for Kari, because our birthstone was blue topaz. I smiled and put it back in my pocket. As I walked into my apartment, my mom was waiting for me. "Mom?" I asked, in surprise. "What are you doing here so early?"

            She just smiled mysteriously at me. "Don't worry about it. Just go change into something nice. We're going to go visit Matt."

            My eyes widened and I smiled. "Okay!" Then my eyes narrowed. "Why?"

            "Is there a rule that I can't go visit my son?" my mom retorted. "I haven't seen Matt in ages. I don't want to miss out on his growing up."

            I nodded to myself as I went into my room to change. For some reason, I wanted to keep the ring with me, so I put it into my pants pocket. I had the strangest feeling something was about to happen, something that would drastically alter my life, but I didn't know what. 

I kept wondering as my mom drove us way to the other side of town, to my dad's condo. I still didn't know why she was putting herself through this—my parents had had a bitter divorce when I was six and ten years later, they still acted only rigidly civil to each other.

            Finally, after many minutes of wondering and pondering (there was lots of traffic in Odaiba… sheesh), we pulled up in front of Matt's and my dad's condo. I was quite excited at the prospect of seeing my father… visits were very few and far between.

            As we rode up the elevator to the fifth floor, where the condo was, my mom's cell phone rang. "Hello?" she answered into it, as we walked out the elevator car and into the little lobby of the floor. "Hold on." She covered the phone and said, "T.K., I have to take this. Just go ahead and I'll meet you there, okay?" 

            I nodded. "Okay." I walked the familiar route to my dad's condo… second hallway, turn left… third door on the right. I pressed the buzzer. "Hello? Anyone home?"

            I swear I could hear something… interesting on the other side of the door, but I didn't really pay much attention to it. "Hello?" a voice crackled on the other end. My dad's.

            "Dad? It's me. T.K. Can I come in?"

            A few more moments, then some static, and another answer crackled to life. "T.K.! Of course you can come in. Hold on just a sec."

            The door opened a few seconds later and my dad appeared in the doorway. "T.K.! It's so good to see you!" He gave me a big hug and then pulled back and looked me over. It was interesting… the last time I had seen him, we were the same height, and now I was a few inches taller than him. "You've grown up so much. My goodness." He was smiling, but there was a hint of something… sadness… maybe regret… in his eyes. It dampened my spirits a bit, but I was still very grateful to see him. "It's great to see you, too, Dad. It's been too long." Then I looked around at the unusually dim condo. It was bright and sunny outside (because of finals, we got out of practice early), but it was really dark in here.

            "Where's Matt?" I wondered. I wanted to see my brother. True, he and I did go to the same school, but he graduated last year, he was in college now, and we were both very busy. 

            My dad waved a hand lazily. "He's somewhere around here. Come in! Sit down. Do you want a drink or anything?"

            "Sure. What do you have?"

            Before my dad could answer, the blinds were opened, lights were thrown on, and a huge "SURPRISE!" was heard. My eyes widened in shock. "What is this?"

            "It's your belated sixteenth birthday party, Teeks." A new voice came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Matt. "It's good to see you, bro."

            "You, too, Matt." We had a brotherly hug (AN: *sigh*) and then I turned around to see just who was there, and to take in the moment.

            It definitely wasn't as big as Kari's party, but there were lots of familiar faces. Basically, it was just the Digidestined, with the exception of Fiona and Sabrina. There were a few streamers and balloons and stuff hanging up, and a big pile of presents in one corner. There was a DJ stand set up in another corner (I was guessing that was for Matt), and refreshments set on the kitchen counter. I shook my head. "You guys! You didn't have to do this for me." 

            "But we wanted to," Kari said, stepping forward, smiling that bright smile that I loved. "You're always so selfless when it comes to us, that we decided we'd do something nice for you. Besides, your sixteenth birthday only comes around once in a lifetime, so why not savor the moment?"

            I took her into my arms and kissed her forehead. "Okay. Thank you." Then I looked around at everyone else. "So what are we waiting for? Let's party!"

            "Yeah!!!" Matt went and put on some music, and we started one of the most memorable parties of my memory.

            We had some classic moments at that party: My dad, who actually had a lot of money, had a small indoor pool, which made his condo bigger than the rest of the ones on the floor. Everyone had their bathing suits (later, they told me, they had all gotten together and planned it) and so we went for a dip in the pool. When I wasn't paying attention, Davis and Tai pushed me in the pool, clothes and all. I didn't even have to get them back! I guess (I didn't know what happened until Yolei told me later) they wanted to try and push me in the pool again, so Davis was waiting for the perfect moment to push me in, but right as he was about to, Tai dashed across the room because there was food… or something… and Davis ended up pushing Tai. Not to be outdone, Tai grabbed Davis's goggles and Davis went down with Tai, both of them ending up soggy and discouraged. The rest of us, however, had a great laugh.

            Later, we had cake and ice cream, and of course they HAD to get me the candles that never blow out (that was fun) and those two were at it again… this time trying to throw cake at me. However, since they were soccer stars, not baseball stars, their aim was a bit off, and they ended up hitting Sora and Fiona instead, both of whom got quite upset at their "guys" (yes, Davis and Fiona had both admitted, not to each other of course, but to the rest of us, that they liked each other) and started chasing them around. In trying to get away from them, Davis tripped and fell, scraping his knee, and Tai stood over him laughing, but he paid for it too—Sora was able to hit Tai right in the face with cake. 

            You'd think that those two would learn their lesson after that escapade, but no. We got around to opening my presents (I got a lot of awesome ones: new video games, a writer's guide, which I thought was really great, a few dancing hamsters [AN: those things are AWESOME! hehe], lots of money, a new basketball, and gift cards and stuff), and all the money and checks and gift cards that I got, I put in one of the bags. I guess the two wise guys were still trying to get me, so they "stole" my money bag and ran off. Of course they weren't watching where they were going, and they ended up running into the pool. Again. Thankfully, Joe was able to steal the money bag away from them again before they got soaked. Davis's and Tai's antics definitely were a highlight to the day.

            I think though, that the best highlight of the day was when everyone was gone, except for Tai, Kari, Matt (of course), and my mom. The six of us were cleaning up when Matt looked at me strangely. "What?"

            "Why are you cleaning up? This was your party, your birthday. You don't have to do anything."

            "It's okay, Matt. Really." I proceeded to throw away a few more stray cups. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up into my brother's eyes, identical to mine. "Listen, T.K. We'll take care of it. Just go relax or something. We'll be okay."

            I reluctantly put down the bag. "Are you sure?"

            "Positive." Matt pushed me lightly and I rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay." I went out to the balcony and leaned on the railing, breathing in the night air and going over thoughts in my head. So this is what it was like to be sixteen. I had everything I had ever wanted, at least in this realistic world. My thoughts drifted to what lay ahead of me… how things change and become separate and everything… and then I remembered I still had the ring in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked over it carefully, thinking of how I was going to give it to Kari.

            "T.K.?" I heard the sliding door open and Kari step onto the balcony. I turned to face her. "Hey. Thanks a lot for everything."

            She waved a hand. "Aw, it was nothing. It was fun planning a surprise party for you." She smiled. "Did you have a good time?"

            I nodded. "I had an awesome time. Thank you." I kissed her forehead and took her into my arms, and we just stood there, embracing, for a few moments, the thoughts from earlier still coursing through my brain. I pulled away and looked deeply into Kari's eyes. "What is it?" she asked.

            "Sit. I need to talk to you about something." Nodding, Kari obliged, and I pulled up a chair next to her and began what I had to say.

            "Light, I just turned sixteen. You'll be turning sixteen soon, too. We're growing up, facing an uncertain future. We don't know what's going to happen to us. We might be going to different colleges. One of us might move away. Things might try to tear us apart… this world isn't stable enough for my liking."

            Kari's eyes widened. "What are you trying to say?" Her voice was wavering. I took her hand into mine and kissed it. "Don't worry. I'm not going to leave you. I love you too much to do that."

            She sighed visibly with relief, and I continued, "That's why I want to give you this. I originally wanted to give this to you for your birthday, but I thought it couldn't wait." I presented her with the ring I was holding and told her, "The hands stand for friendship, the heart, love, and the crown, loyalty. Wear it like this." I put it on her right ring finger, and to my surprise, it was a perfect fit. "Now people will know you have a special love." I looked at her and then, like so many times before, realized why life was so wonderful. "I promise you, Kari, that nothing or no one will ever come between us. Not another person, not distance, not even time. I love you. You are the only girl I have loved and the only girl I will ever love. That is the promise I give you with this ring." I searched her eyes, looking for a sign. They were lit up with the light of love, and Kari smiled. "T.K., thank you… it's your birthday and you're the one giving me a present. You're always selfless like that. I love you for that." She leaned over and kissed me, filling my heart like only she could. And with that sweet, special kiss, I sealed my promise to her.

You never know… there may be more added to this chapter… there might not. You know what to do! It's been ages! Review review review review review review review review review review review!!! *jumps up and down giddily* Come on, you know you've been waiting for it. Please?


	11. Chapter Eight: Forever

**an**: HAHA! I am victorious!!! (And alive, for that matter.) I know it's been forever and a week since I last updated, but writer's block was seriously killing me. Now I have ideas for the next… *counts* three or so chapters. HOORAY! So hopefully, updates will be more frequent. I promise it won't take two more months for me to update. It's just that I've been SO busy with school (AP tests are coming up, not to mention senior stuff and college… bleh), church, my boyfriend (*smiles* he's a lot of the inspiration for this, you know)… yeah. So rejoice and be glad because I'm back! Anyways… this chapter… skips ahead another year. After this, though, it won't take nearly as many time jumps. This is where all the good stuff begins (LOTS of Takari!).

Two milestones to relay: 1) on March 25 of this year, it was officially **one year since I joined ff.net! hooray! *and there was much rejoicing…* and 2) with the uploading of this chapter, I believe, I will have reached 100,000 words! YEAH!!!! so be proud of me!**

Thanks to my loyal and true reviewers for sticking with me, even though this story hasn't been updated in forever… you guys get a gold star. And… if you guys can get me up to 100 reviews *wink wink nudge nudge* then you guys get two gold stars, a cookie, plus maybe faster updates. You know you want that. If you guys can get me up there, man, I will be SO happy. hehe.

Anyway, enough of my jabbering and read the story! (And you know they're not mine so why do I have to keep repeating myself?)

*

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Eight: Forever

            I was sitting at school one day, towards the end of our junior year, when Kari rushed into our shared math class. Kari was the smart one, in all the advanced classes, but for some reason she didn't fare too well in the math department, while I had an uncanny knack for it. So we shared a trigonometry class, instead of Kari being in the super-accelerated AP Calculus class. Anyway, she rushed in, obviously out of breath, but her eyes were sparkling. She was clutching a piece of paper as if it were something very important. She slid into her seat, next to mine, and then while our teacher was droning on again, Kari showed it to me, along with a note she attached to it.

_Don't you think this would be an awesome opportunity? I haven't been to __New York__ for ages!_

            My interest picking up, I looked at the paper Kari had picked up. It outlined a chance for a select few students—about the size of one class—to venture to New York City and study there for a semester. As I looked over the requirements, my heart lifted. I could pretty much meet most of them, and the more I pondered over it, the more I wanted to go. I wrote a note back to Kari:

_Sounds like so much fun! I definitely want to go. Let's see if we can do this! =D_

            And so, as we impatiently waited for the class to be over with (our break time was right after this class), my mind raced with the possibilities of studying abroad. A lot of things were swirling around us… AP tests, university, but right now the one thing that I worried about was the opportunity of going to New York. Not only would it be great to see Mimi again, but one of the programs they had offered was creative writing, and I really wanted to expand my expertise in that to not just stories, but poetry, novels, and even plays. I could tell Kari was interested because of the photography program—and I was sure that she would get in, because she took the best pictures. That's why she usually shied away from the camera—she liked taking the pictures more than actually posing for them. Only on few occasions did she actually pose for the lens.

            The rustling (actually, in the case of the guy behind me, slamming) of books and things jolted me out of my thoughts, and I quickly gathered up my things and made my way to standing right by the door, as did Kari. As soon as the bell rang, we hurriedly went to the office to sign up for the program, finding that we had to submit a portfolio of our work to be considered. When we realized that the deadline was coming up pretty soon, Kari and I looked at each other. "Your place or mine?" she asked.

            "Wherever you want, Light," I told her. I really didn't care, but I knew that somehow it would be more fun doing our showcasing together.

            Kari smiled. "Okay. I'll be at your apartment Saturday morning at ten."

            That morning I woke up at a reasonable hour and began searching for some works of mine that would really make an impact on people. As I was sifting through a folder that contained a bit of my stuff, the buzzer rang, and absentmindedly I wandered to the door and opened it. Kari stood there, bright as always, with a cute pink shirt and jeans. Even though it was simple, she looked beautiful—as always. She giggled when she saw me.

            "T.K., you look just like one of those old married men," she told me between giggles. I looked down at my attire and figured out why. I was holding a mug of hot chocolate in one hand, my flannel pajamas and white T-shirt still on, my hair in an unruly mess—messier than usual. I grinned and let her in. "I guess I do. Old married men do this to their girls too, right?" I asked mischievously as I leaned in to kiss her.

            Kari squealed, "Ew! Morning breath!" and pretended to run off, but I knew she was kidding—I could tell by the sparkle in her eye. I instead caught her in my arms and she kissed me softly on the cheek, and the warm feeling I associated with love flowed through me freely. 'I love you, you know that," she whispered, and I smiled. I never tired of hearing that from her. I kissed her forehead gently and said, "I love you too, Kari," then released her and headed back to the table to go through my work. She sat across from me and put her own folder down, then took the folder that I had out of my hands and started looking through it. "Hey!" I exclaimed, but she just stuck her tongue out at me. So I took her folder and started looking through the pictures.

            There were many interesting pictures of many different subjects. The first couple of pictures were a little off-center or blurred, but you could tell that what was in the picture was really awesome. I laughed as I found a picture of Tai and Davis giving each other a high-five; it was right after a soccer match and their profiles were identical—it looked as if it was the same person on both sides. "Kari, you have to put this in your portfolio."

            She looked up at me and smiled. "Oh, yeah… I remember this picture. Thanks." She set it aside in a pile I guess she was starting of things to put in her folder. I stood up to put away my breakfast plates and asked her, "You want anything?"

            "No, I'm okay, I already ate," Kari replied, waving her hand and not bothering to look up. I guess she was fully engrossed in what she was reading. "T.K., when did you write this?"

            "What's it about?" I asked from the kitchen.

            "The story of how there were two best friends but then one had to move away and they lose touch but meet again in a restaurant and find out that their girlfriends are sisters (AN: sorry I just made that up off the top of my head, I know it's lame)."

            I came back into the room where Kari was sitting. "A while ago. Maybe two years ago?"

            "It's very interesting. I like the imagery and the way you describe things."

            I smiled. "Thanks, Kari. That really means a lot." I kissed the top of her head and told her, "I'm gonna go take a shower now, so I don't smell—" at that, Kari made a face, and then laughed; I mock-glared at her and continued, "so I'll be back in a few, okay?"

            "Okay," she said innocently, smiling at me. "I'll be waiting here for you when you're done."

            I blew a kiss to her before I went off to take my shower.

            When I emerged from the dark hallway that lead into the dining area, I could see that Kari was really concentrating on a piece of paper in her hands—a different one than the one she had been reading when I left. The folder across from her, the one with all her pictures, remained untouched, and as I came closer to her, I caught the reflection of something in her eyes—tears? 

            "Kari?"

            She looked up and sure enough, the tears were there. One of them spilled over the pools in her ruby eyes and I gently wiped it away with my thumb. "What's wrong?"

            Kari smiled through her tears. "Nothing. It's just… this… this is amazing." I looked down to the paper she was clutching and realized what she was talking about.

            What Kari had been reading was not a story, but rather, a cross between a journal entry and a letter. It was dated December 18 of a few years back—the day before I had asked her out.

            _Tomorrow is Kari's birthday. I want it to be the best for her—we're throwing her a surprise party, but I think it just might be the time… I can feel it. Yes, I might have just turned fourteen, but somehow, I know this is the time. She's my best friend, but there's something more there. And I know it's not just love—that will definitely come—but it feels like we've been bonded forever, practically, and that we're supposed to be together. I don't know how I know this, and the words I choose to describe it do not come close to actually describing the intensity of this feeling, but somehow, deep in my soul, I know that we're soulmates. It may be the whole Hope and Light thing… I don't know. But Kari is my light—she illuminates my days. And I know that I will always want to be her hope, if she will let me. I don't know where I'd be without her, or what I'd do if she wasn't there to brighten my day with her smile, or her kind voice, or her understanding eyes… but I don't want to just protect her anymore… I want to love her. Every time I dream of my future, with my wife and family, she is always there. I want her to be there. I want this to all work out…_

            "Oh… that…" I trailed off, sheepishly, rubbing a hand behind my neck. 

            "You wrote that when you were fourteen?" Kari asked, incredulously.

            I nodded. "That was like a week after my birthday," I recalled softly, then looked deep into my love's eyes. "And everything I said in there is true. I love you, so much, and I feel this bond with you that I know can't be broken. I want to be able to spend the rest of my life with you…" I trailed off, sighing. But Kari just smiled, looking just as deeply into my eyes as I was into hers, read my deepest thoughts, fears, and doubts, and said a simple statement that spoke volumes to me.

            "Age is just a number. Don't judge on other's standards—if it feels right to you, go for it. There's nothing stopping you." She kissed me softly. "You have my trust, you have my love, and you have my heart."

            That last statement sowed the seeds of something that had always been in the back of my mind, but now was starting to want to become a reality soon.

            The day had passed by before I knew it, and we had compiled some good stuff in both of our portfolios. "T.K., your writing is so profound… I don't see why you won't make it."

            "Nah… I need to work on it. You, on the other hand, are so talented… so amazing. You'll make it in for sure."

            Kari sighed. "I really hope so."

            Finally, the year wound down, and soon it was time for the beaches and sleeping in until one in the afternoon. Before we left the school for the last time, everyone who had applied to the study abroad program—and there were a LOT of us—were handed envelopes. I looked dubiously at the envelope, and then at Kari. "You first."

            She took a deep breath. "Okay." We walked out of the office into the sunny quad area, sat down on one of the benches, under the refreshing shade of a tree, and Kari ripped open her envelope. She read for a few moments, and then screamed. "OMG! T.K., they accepted me!"

            I grinned. "That's wonderful!" She threw her arms around me and I held her there, in my arms, feeling her excitement and happiness for her. I kissed her on the forehead. "Kari, that is so awesome. I'm really happy for you."

            Kari couldn't stop smiling. "Thanks." Then she glanced over at my envelope. "T.K., open yours."

            I took the plain white envelope in my hands and ripped it open, unfolding the single piece of paper—as opposed to the several multi-colored sheets Kari had set aside; that was a bad omen already—and read:

_Dear Mr. Takaishi,_

_The material that you presented us with was superb; however, we regret to inform you that we could not accept you into the study abroad program. We hope for all the success as you continue to aspire in your field._

            I turned to Kari. "Light, I'm not coming with you."

            The sparkle in Kari's eyes faded completely. "What? But…" Her face hardened and took on what I liked to call the "Tai look": determined to get her way. "Stupid idiots. There must have been a mistake."

            "Kari. Calm down. It's okay." I set my hands on her shoulders. "I had the feeling I wasn't going to do too well. Just because I can't go doesn't mean that you shouldn't follow your dreams."

            "But you are my dream, T.K. I love you. I don't want to be without you for that long."

            "Kari… don't sacrifice this opportunity because of me, okay? You have the chance to go to America to study something you love. Don't let this slip just because I can't do it with you. It's only for four months, Light. It may be the longest four months of my life, but I'm willing to wait forever if I had to for you."

            "Really?" The sparkle had returned to Kari's eyes.

            "Of course. Don't ever doubt my love for you." While I was talking to her, Kari had interlaced her fingers with mine, and I took her hand and lifted it to my lips gently. Then the inevitable question hung in the air, like the moisture did on this very humid day.

            "When do you leave?"

            Kari glanced at the paper. "In the middle of August. I'll be back by Christmas."

            "Are you celebrating your eighteenth birthday there?"

            "I hope not… maybe I'll try to come home earlier."

            "Okay." Then I glanced around and found the school deserted. "Kari, let's go. It's summer vacation." I helped her up and hand in hand, we walked out of school.

~*~

            The two months of our summer vacation together went by too fast. Over that time, I had been pondering to myself a question that I had been thinking about for a long time. I especially liked talking to Tai, as I felt he knew exactly what I was going through. The words Kari had spoken to me that fateful Saturday morning rang in my head constantly, too. Finally, I knew what I had to do, and I called Tai, a few weeks before Kari was scheduled to leave.

            "Hey, T.K. How's it going?" Tai asked when he answered the phone. "Want to talk to Kari?"

            "No… actually, I want to talk to you. Do you think you can meet me for lunch?"

            Tai was silent for a moment. "Um… yeah, I think so. Sora, Yolei and Kari are going dress shopping anyway, and I have to meet her there in a few, but until then, I'm free."

            "Okay, thanks. There's something I have to ask you about."

            An hour later, Tai and I were sitting in a quiet corner of a great restaurant. "So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

            "Your sister… and Sora…" I sighed. "Tai, I think... no, I feel it… I know what I want to do, I just… oh, I might as well tell you. I think I'm going to propose to your sister."

            Tai blinked for a moment, and then said, "Um… wow. I didn't expect that coming." He trailed off and then said, "Actually… now that I think about it… it doesn't surprise me as much as it should have." He nodded. "Are you absolutely sure about this? I mean… you guys are going to be still in high school… and she's going away… don't you think you want to wait just a bit and see what happens?" 

            "Tai, I love Kari. She is my life. She's the only girl I've ever wanted. I want to ask her before she goes to New York… so that we have something to look forward to… I know I want to spend the rest of my life with her. That is, if it's okay with you and your parents."

            "T.K., I totally understand how you feel, but… gosh, you're so young. I don't want to see either of you get hurt because you rushed into things."

            "That's what everyone said when Kari and I first started going out… and look at us now… we're still here, still as strong as ever."

            Tai nodded. "That's a good point…" Then he looked straight at me. "Are you absolutely sure that this is what you want to do?"

            "Yes. With your blessing, of course."

            "Well then… go for it. Just remember that you have your whole life in front of you."

            "Okay. Thanks so much, Tai."

            Tai smiled. "Of course… little brother." Those few words, somehow, made my whole day.

            As Kari was busy getting ready, packing, doing what she needed to, I was rushing around as well, trying to get all the arrangements ready for what I was planning. Luckily, it wasn't too hard for me to keep it hidden, since Kari was so busy anyway. I usually busied myself by playing video games, or hanging out and playing soccer or basketball with Davis, Ken and Cody, and even occasionally Tai, Izzy, and *gasp* Matt. It was a few days before Kari was to leave, and I had already picked out the ring that I was going to give her—I had just picked it up and was heading home when I saw the guys at the park and proceeded to join them, since it was on my way home anyway.

            "Hey guys!" I yelled, and they all turned and looked in my direction. It appeared that their game of soccer was over anyway, so they all dispersed, not after saying hi to me first, and then Matt and I sat underneath one of the big shady trees. "How's it going, Teeks?" he asked me.

            "Pretty good… what about you?" I asked my brother. I really wanted to know what was going on with him.

            "Oh, not much… I was playing at a party the other day and I met this girl named Christi… she's one of my bandmates' cousins or something… but yeah, she seems really cool. I mean we just met, but somehow I can't seem to stop thinking about her…" Matt trailed off, probably lost in his own daydream. I laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

            Matt snapped out of it and looked at me. "So how are things with you and Kari?"

            I smiled. "Wonderful. She's leaving in a few days for New York, though, to study photography at some college or something."

            "Really? How long is she gonna be gone?"

            "A semester… maybe… she'll be back by Christmas."

            Matt sighed. "That must be so hard… to know you're not going to see her for half a year."

            "Not really." I looked around to make sure that nobody else was around, and then I slowly pulled a black velvet box out of my pocket and opened it for my brother. His eyes widened and he said, "You're not… are you?"

            I nodded. "Yeah."

            "But T.K…. you're only a senior in high school… can you handle all of this?"

            "I'm sure I can… because with Kari in my life, it only makes things that much easier."

            Matt still didn't look convinced. "Oh, come on, Matt. It won't be that bad."

            "Well… whatever you say, T.K. Just don't come to me when it doesn't work out."

            I could feel my blood start to boil. "How do you know that it won't? You know I love her more than anything! How can you say that?"

            "T.K., calm down. I didn't mean to offend you. It's just… I guess I've become so disillusioned with love now that I don't have any faith anymore. I'm sorry."

            "No… it's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way." I sighed and was about to put the ring back when Matt said, "No. Wait." He looked closely at the ring and then smiled. "That's really beautiful, Teeks. I know she'll love it."

            "I hope so, Matt." I sighed. "I really hope so."

            Three days later, the day before Kari was set to leave, I bustled around my place, trying to make sure I had everything. "Basket… check… candles, check… blanket… check…. hmm that seems to be it. No, wait…" I opened my drawer and pulled out the tiny box. "_That's everything."_

            I went down to the park, by the lake they had, where Kari always liked to feed the ducks, and set everything up there. I had enlisted Davis and Ken, who were already there playing soccer again, to keep an eye on the stuff while I went to go get Kari. I really hoped that they wouldn't screw anything up, like the feeling that I had that they would. 

            Nervousness now running through my veins, I made my way towards Kari's house, which was on the other side of the park from my own place. I waited patiently as Tai opened the door and summoned his sister. "Good luck tonight, T.K. She doesn't suspect anything."

            I smiled. "Thanks, Tai. That really means a lot."

            "You nervous?"

            "Maybe." I smiled shakily. Tai smiled back sympathetically. "Don't worry. I was like that when I proposed to Sora. Fortunately, she said yes. And I'm sure Kari will too."

            "You're sure Kari will what?" a female voice sounded as Kari appeared in view. I sighed, never getting over the fact that she could always take my breath away. Her hair was up in a ponytail, with a few strands framing her face; she wore a light yellow tank top, white capris with yellow and pink flowers all over it, and white sandals. 

            "Oh, we were just talking about Tai's wedding and how we know both you and Sora will look absolutely amazing," I told her, not even looking a bit nervous that Kari might know about what was coming up. 

            Kari smiled. "I hope so," was all she could say. Then we said goodbye to Tai, and hand in hand, we walked to the park.

            "It's such a nice day today," Kari remarked as I led her to my spot. "The sunset looks amazing."

            Sure enough, as I glanced at the sky, the setting sun was coloring the sky in a spectrum of colors, from the normal sky blue to indigo to pink to purple to orange and even red. Kari was so enthralled with the gift nature had given us (and for that I was silently thanking God) that she wasn't paying too much attention until she saw the lake. "Ooh! Look at the reflection of the sunset!" And then, she noticed what I had set out for us.

            "Oh, T.K…. you didn't have to do this for me," Kari breathed as we both sat down on the picnic blanket, while I looked around for any sign of Davis or Ken. _Good_, I thought, _they're making themselves scarce… but then again, maybe they're just not around at all to make sure no one bothers us._ I just hoped for the best. Somehow, though, it was as if a person knew not to interrupt… the air was still, so beautiful, so serene, that it added just the right touch to the setting. I looked at my Kari and replied to her, "But I wanted to… this is your last day here and I'm not going to see you for at least four months… I'm going to miss you so much. I wanted to spend some time with you."

            Kari smiled, but the sparkle was fading fast from her eyes. Instead, she lay on her back, watching the sky again. I could tell something was bothering her. "Light, what's wrong?"

            A hint of a smile returned to her face again. "Nothing… I'm so excited for this trip… but I'm going to miss you so much."

            "I know." I held out my arms to her and she came into my embrace, as I kissed her forehead and stroked her hair lightly. "I'm going to miss you too… more than I could ever imagine I would." As we sat there, just holding each other, no words were spoken—none were needed. All I needed to know was that my Light was with me.

            After a bit of this silence, my stomach decided to talk to me. Kari giggled. "I guess someone's hungry, huh?"

            I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess… I'm sorry."

            "No, it's okay. I understand, you're a guy, you need food. Here." Taking charge, Kari opened the picnic basket and we ate our food, basically having a good time, playfully throwing food at each other, yet still maintaining the tenderness and the romance of the whole scene around us. Finally, after we were all done, and everything was cleaned up, we sat in the twilight and my heartbeat quickened. _This is it._

            "Kar?" I asked her, my voice faltering more than I had hoped for. She shifted her gaze—she was looking up at the sky again—and looked at me. "Yes?"

            "I… uh, I have something to ask you."

            She sat up expectantly and I knew she could tell I was nervous. I exhaled and thought about how I was going to do this. Suddenly, I remembered something someone had told me… and the words fell into place.

            "We've known each other for a long time, and in that span of time, we've learned to love each other." Kari smiled at me, but she didn't say anything, so I continued, "Do you remember back when we first got together, and everyone was telling us that they'd been waiting for it for ages?"

            "How can I forget?" Kari rolled her eyes. I thought back to when everyone first found out about Kari and me, and how they were either super-excited (the girls, mostly) or told us that they'd seen it coming a mile away. "Were we really that obvious?" I asked, and we both laughed. "I guess so," Kari replied. "I guess they could see our love for each other, even then."

            My heart warmed at her words, which made me relax a bit, and as I took her hand into my own, I told her, "One of them—I think it was Sora—told me that she knew that we were meant to be together. She said that she believed we were going to be together forever."

Kari nodded, and I could feel she could sense something, so I decided to get to my point. "Now, after all we've been through, all the years we've been together… I think she's right… even through the separations we may encounter. So… before you leave… I want you to have this, so that you know how much I love you, no matter what." I reached into my pocket, pulled out the tiny box, and presented it to Kari. "Open it."

With unsteady hands, Kari took the small box from me and opened it slowly. Glistening inside was a light pink stone, the symbol of the Crest of Light barely visible within it. It was set atop a band of gold. Kari gasped. "Oh, TK…" When she looked back up at me, I could feel her reading into my soul, the way only she could do. I chose this perfect moment, forgetting about all of my doubts, and all of my fears, and instead focusing on how much I loved her, more than anything, and I asked her the one question that would change both our lives forever.

"Hikari Kamiya, my angel of Light, will you marry me?"

Kari beamed, not hesitating for a second, and her reply was a moment that I hold in my heart to this day. "Of course, TK. I want that more than anything in the world."

I smiled, knowing that my smile rivaled that of Kari's as I swept her into a big hug. "I love you, Kari. More than anything in this world." I pulled away from my new fiancée, gently took the ring that was sitting in her lap, and slipped it, deliberately, on her left ring finger. "Thank you, Light. You have made me the happiest person in the world. I am so lucky to have you."

            I could feel the feather-light touch of Kari's fingers as she stroked my face gently. "I'm the lucky one, Takeru." And she leaned in to kiss me, underneath the now darkened sky illuminated by the first beams of moonlight.

~*~

            Soon after that, we started on our way back to her house, Kari stopping every so often to admire her new ring. "T.K., it's beautiful. Thank you."

            I smiled. "I'm glad you like it." Then… a thought came to me, one that troubled me so. "Kari… you don't regret this… do you?"

            She looked at me quizzically. "Why would you think that?"

            "It's just… so many people have told me…"

            "Listen to me, T.K. I said this to you before—don't judge by anyone's standards but your own. I love you, and I know that you love me, and I know we have the rest of our lives ahead of us, but if we want to start a bit early, why should anything stop us?"

            I smiled. "You're right. Not just about what everyone says… but about the fact that I love you… so much… you're embedded in my soul."

            Kari looked at me, not having to say anything, and I saw the love shining through her eyes. Before I knew it, we were back at her house. "I guess this is it," I said slowly.

            Kari sighed. "Know that no matter how far away I am, or how long we're apart, that I will always love you… and I'll be counting the days until I can become your wife."

            I sighed as well. "Hikari Takaishi… I like the sound of that."

            Smiling brightly, Kari said, "So do I." She kissed me gently, and I deepened our kiss, not wanting to let her go, because I knew this could be our last kiss. "T.K…. I have to go. It's getting late."

            "Okay," I said, my voice failing me. Kari looked at me as she opened the door, and mouthed "I love you" to me before her face disappeared from my sight. Tears threatened to fall, but I wouldn't let them. Instead, my thoughts drifted to my not-so-distant future, and the fact that I would be a married man soon… that I would have Kari by my side for the rest of my life. Just the thought of that comforted me, and it felt as if Kari was thinking the same way, because I could feel her with me. 


	12. Chapter Nine: Completion rated PG13 R

an: Look you guys! I'm still alive! Okay, so I broke my promise to give you a chapter in less than two months, but... okay you know my excuses. I didn't have writer's block this time–this is actually a pivotal part in the storyline. It's just that I didn't have enough time to just sit down and write it all out. For some reason I can't write it on paper–I must be sitting at the computer. (Must be the keyboard or something.) So I'm sorry that this took so long, but it's finally here. Going with the flow of this story, there should be an interlude next chapter, but I don't really feel like writing one... haha. So I'll just continue with the main story and maybe throw one in before the main story is done.

  


Hope you like this chapter. You guys–I'm thisclose to getting 100 reviews and if you do that for me, I swear I will love you all. I'm serious–this story has gotten me the most reviews I've ever had and I'm so happy. Thanks so much for all your kind words. 

  


P.S.: Songs used in this chapter:

"If You're Not the One" - Daniel Beddingfield (I love that song, it's my boyfriend's and my song =D)

"True Love Waits" - Souljahz (my inspiration song... I need to hear it every day... it's a good song by a good Christian band)

  


Okay I'll stop talking, onto the story!

  


*

  


One Light, One Hope

Chapter Nine: Completion

  


(warning: this chapter is rated PG-13/R for suggestiveness/content…)

  


"This is a reminder: the white zone is for the loading and unloading of passengers and baggage only. Please do not park your cars."

The next day, the airport wasn't so crowded, but it was still hectic. Kari's parents had rented a van _and_ Sora drove a few other people as well, so that we could all say goodbye to Kari.

As Kari's parents and Tai helped her check in, the rest of us stood off to one side and mingled. Fiona was also there—this was the end of her stay in Japan and she and her mother were flying back to Ireland as well. 

After all the baggage had been checked in, we still had a bit of time before Kari had to be at her gate, so we hung around, ate—we treated Kari to her last authentic Japanese meal for quite a while—and basically just tried to keep spirits high, because we were all depressed that Kari was leaving. Davis was a bit sad also—he and Fiona had gone out, then broken up, and _then _became the best of friends, so he was depressed to see her go as well.

Finally, the time flying by way too fast for my liking, it was time for Kari to leave. Each of us said our individual goodbyes to her—Izzy, Cody, Sora, Yolei, Ken, Matt, Joe, Davis, Tai, her parents… and then finally me. She stood before me, tears glistening in her eyes, and before she could catch them, they started to fall. I wiped them away with the pad of my thumb, then kissed her on the forehead. "Kari, you're going off to live your dream. Don't cry."

My words made her smile—thankfully—and she whispered, "I can't help it."

"Just think, you'll be back here in no time. And you'll have fun while you're over there, too. Make sure you stop by and visit Meems for me, okay?"

She giggled. "Okay." Then, impulsively, I swept her into a big hug. I was trying to be strong, but somehow, I couldn't resist the need to have her near me. "Kari, I love you… don't ever forget that," I whispered in her ear.

Pulling away, she looked in my eyes and said, "I know." She kissed me softly and then said, "Remember… you have my trust, you have my heart, and you have my love." Then, slowly slipping from my embrace, she picked up her carry-ons and walked towards the gate, with Fiona. The last thing I saw before she disappeared into view was her blowing a kiss to me and mouthing "I love you," as she always did.

  


~*~

  


Soon after Kari's departure, school started up again. It just wasn't as fun as it used to without her there. I tried not to focus too much on her being gone, but it always bothered me, so instead I threw myself into my schoolwork. I guess it looked good for me because I was starting to consider universities to attend, plus I was in accelerated and AP classes anyway, so it was good. I did talk to her every other day—the time difference was a bit weird. My sleeping habits got a little tweaked out because of that; I usually took a nap in the afternoon and stayed up until maybe 3 or 4 in the morning… yeah, it was weird. But it was worth it just to talk to Kari.

During our talks (some on the phone, most on Instant Messenger or e-mail), we kept up; Kari was having an amazing time at the university, and was also enjoying the beginnings of a New England autumn. She was learning a lot and also meeting new people, as well as old friends—Mimi, apparently, had turned up in the acting program and was thrilled to see Kari. They had met so early into the program that Kari was able to stay with Mimi in her new apartment, and so it was good for both of them. I was glad that Kari was having such an awesome time—knowing that she was having fun made it a bit easier for me. I also filled her in—making captain of the varsity basketball team, doing well in all my classes, getting scholarships for writing… I was accomplishing so many things without her there, that it was sometimes bittersweet… I didn't have Kari to share it with.

And then there were those days when I'd be at school and see all those couples together, cuddling and being coupley like they usually do. Ken and Yolei, who had been together for about a year and a half now, didn't help too much, but they knew how much I missed Kari and so kept their coupley actions to a minimum—for that I was grateful. I also started talking frequently to Joe again. He and Mimi were going out, something I didn't know, and had been for quite a while as well. He told me that as soon as he finished up his grad work, which actually, was going to happen in a month or so, that he was going to fly out to New York and start interning there, so that he and Mimi could be together. I smiled. "I'm glad things finally worked out for you two."

Joe smiled as well. "Who would have thought, the nerdy med student and the fashionable actress…" He sighed in contentment. "But we're really happy. In fact, if things happen the way they continue to happen… I think I might take things further."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by further? Physically… or just the whole relationship?"

He shrugged. "Physically, if it gets to that… maybe. But I meant… maybe… asking her to marry me… I mean she'd probably say no, but I can see myself with her for the rest of my life…" Joe trailed off, apparently lost in his own thoughts.

"Joe, you don't know that she'll say no. I say go for it."

"T.K., you sound so sure… how do you know?"

I grinned. "Personal experience."

Joe furrowed his eyebrows, then shot them up. "What… you're not saying… you and Kari… you're… engaged?"

All I did was nod my head in a slightly triumphantly manner, trying to hold back my wide smile. Joe smiled for me, though. "Are you serious? That is awesome! Congrats!" He and I hugged (AN: in the stupid way guys do *rolls eyes*) and then Joe said, "I bet you've had all these people trying to dissuade you, huh, since you're so young and all?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "It gets annoying, like they don't understand that I love Kari, that she loves me, that we want to spend the rest of our lives together, and so what if we're just a bit young? It doesn't mean we're gonna get married in high school."

"Speaking of which… when are you gonna get married?"

I thought for a minute. "You know what, I don't know. I have to ask Kari about that."

Joe smiled. "It must be so exciting and amazing to know that you're going to be married to the girl of your dreams pretty soon."

"Oh, it is. It's like… all of my wildest dreams, my deepest wishes, have finally been reached."

  


Over our correspondence, Kari had told me about the party Mimi was throwing for Tai and Sora's wedding. Mimi figured that since she didn't get to see her friends enough, that she would throw a party for them so they had to come. She had booked it for a weekend in late October, and so all of us planned to go out there to help celebrate. When I told Kari this, she got quite excited. 

Now, it was only a matter of time until I saw Kari again. It had been so long since I had held her in my arms, kissed her forehead, felt her touch… it was making me go crazy. People sometimes asked me if I was sure that Kari was the one I was meant to be with, since we weren't together at the moment… but if she wasn't, why did I feel this way about her?

  


_(If I don't need you, then why am I crying on my bed?_

_If I don't need you, then why does your name resound in my head?_

_If you're not for me, then why does this distance maim my life?_

_If you're not for me, then why do I dream of you as my wife?_

_I don't know why you're so far away, but I know that this much is true:_

_We'll make it through, and I hope you are the one I share my life with,_

_and I wish that you could be the one I die with,_

_and I pray that you're the one I build my home with_

_I hope I love you all my life_

_I don't wanna run away, but I can't take it, I don't understand_

_If I'm not made for you, then why does my heart tell me that I am?_

_Is there any way that I can stay in your arms?_

  


_'Cause I miss you, body and soul, so strong that it takes my breath away_

_and I breathe you into my heart and pray for the strength to stand today_

_'cause I love you, whether it's wrong or right,_

_and though I can't be with you tonight,_

_you know my heart is by your side)_

  


The days inched by until finally, it was the weekend for us to go out to New York. We had taken a few days off of school, because we knew it would take quite a while for us to get adjusted to the time change and to actually get there. As we—Tai, Sora, Joe, Izzy, Davis, Cody, Ken, Yolei, Matt, and myself—boarded the plane, along with Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya, and Sora's mom, there were many emotions running high. Yolei was freaking out, because not only did she get to go to New York, she got to see Mimi again. Tai and Sora were excited as well, because they weren't planning on having an engagement party; Izzy, Davis, Cody, and Matt were just planning on having a good time in the Big Apple, and I'm sure Joe was feeling the same way as I was—happy to see his beloved.

The flight was long. Very long. It took us almost a day to get there, and so a lot of us slept for most of the flight… except me, because my sleeping schedule was already tweaked to New York time. So I "borrowed" Izzy's laptop (actually, I kind of stole it from him while he was sleeping) and began writing part of a story that was in my head already. For one of my scholarship applications, I had to write a story to get money for the creative writing program, and I had a really good story in the works. It was about a teen who had magical abilities and how that changed the world around him. My fingers flew furiously over the keyboard as I put all my ideas and thoughts onto "paper." It kept my mind off not only the anxiety of seeing Kari again, but also the anxiety I also had of flying in planes. Somehow… they made me a bit nervous.

Finally (the understatement of the year), we were making our final descent to New York's La Guardia airport, and I could hear Yolei jabbering away already to anyone who would listen about how pretty the Statue of Liberty looked, how excited she was to see Mimi and Kari, while Davis and Tai were having a pillow fight with the minuscule things they called pillows until one of the flight attendants had to stop them. I guess Tai had thought she was attractive because he started flirting with her, right in front of his own fiancÉe, who proceeded to hit him with a pillow and _another_ mock-pillow fight ensued. Cody, who was sitting with Matt and myself, had to laugh.

It took us quite a while to get through baggage claim and customs (we were freaking out because Davis forgot where he put his passport), but after managing all our small crises, we finally made it out to the terminal, where two girls were frantically waving to us. I could spot Kari's bright smile even from the other side of the terminal, and I rushed as fast as I could with all my baggage towards her. When I finally reached her (I was the first one there), I swept her up in a big hug and twirled her around. "Oh, I missed you, Light."

"So did I." Kari kissed me softly… the feel of it was incredible. It had been too long. Then, still holding on to Kari's waist, I said hi to Mimi right as Joe came and they had a similar reunion.

"Okay, okay, lovebirds, cut it out," Yolei called. I looked at her pointedly and she protested, "What?"

"I don't tell you to do that when you have Ken all the time," I told her.

Yolei smiled. "That's a good point. Hey, Kari." 

As hugs and smiles and even small gifts were exchanged all around, Mimi and Kari—who had done something cool to her hair, but I couldn't exactly point it out—led us down to the cool shuttle they had rented for us, since there were so many of us. We were going to stay at a hotel not far from Mimi and Kari's apartment, and the engagement party was going to be in that hotel. 

During the ride home, so many different conversations ensued, that as I was trying to talk to Kari, I kept getting interrupted by so many other people that wanted to talk to her. I didn't mind too much—I understood that they had missed her also—but it was starting to bug just a bit. Anyway, I finally was able to ask her what I was trying to. "What did you do to your hair, Kar? It looks good."

Kari smiled. "Mimi highlighted it for me, and she cut it just a bit so that I have some layers to frame my face. Do you like it?"

"I love it. You're as beautiful as ever."

Kari smiled shyly, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and then interlaced her fingers with mine, as we were both pulled in different directions conversationally—Kari was talking to her parents, while Joe and Mimi began talking to me.

"So, T.K., I hear that you and Kari are getting married soon," Mimi said, smiling. I could tell that she had become Kari's confidante considering that she was the closest girl friend that Kari had.

I nodded. "Yes… I'm really looking forward to it." 

We talked for a little bit more, about a few, other, non-important things, until we finally got to the hotel. Once we were there, Mimi took charge and gave out room assignments. Sora, Yolei, and Sora's mom were in one room; the Kamiyas in another; Matt, Izzy, and me in the next; and Ken, Cody, and Davis in the last one. As we made our way up there and scrambled to get into our rooms, Mimi smiled. "So I'm guessing you guys like it, huh?"

"Yeah! Thanks, Princess Mimi!" Davis exclaimed, using the nickname for her from her Digi-world adventures a long time ago. She scowled and everyone laughed. As Matt, Izzy and I settled into rooms, Kari peeked her head in. "Hey, guys. Can I come in?"

"No," Matt said firmly. Kari and I looked at him strangely and he laughed. "Come on guys, I'm kidding. Of course you can come in, Kar. I'm only giving you a hard time because you're gonna be my little sister soon and it's my job to annoy little sisters."

"And you would know this because…" Kari asked, coming into the room and sitting on a bed.

"I learned it all from Tai," Matt said, grinning. Kari and I rolled our eyes. "Whatever. Hey, Izzy," she said, changing the subject.

"Hello, Kari. Are you having fun out here?"

Kari beamed. "Yes! I love it—the city has so much energy, and it's a great place to find subjects for pictures." As she was speaking, I could tell she was genuinely happy here, and that made my heart lift just a little—but at the same time, it made me a bit sad. Did she want to stay here?

Soon, after we were done unpacking, Matt said, "Well, I'm going to crash for a while. You guys mind?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I'll just go hang out somewhere else."

Matt looked curiously at me. "Why is it that you're not as jet-lagged as the rest of us? You barely slept on the plane."

"I talk to this girl all the time. My sleeping schedule back at home is not unlike the one you guys are cutting out for yourselves," I retorted.

"Oh. I see." Matt put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, while Kari and I bid goodbye to Izzy and set off.

  


"Kar?"

"Hmm?" We were wandering aimlessly around the hotel, just really happy to be with each other again. I didn't want to cut this time short, but I wanted to spend some time with her to just catch up, and now really wasn't the time; an idea was formulating in my mind, but I needed help with it. To do this, I needed to get Kari away from me for just a bit.

"Um... you know what, your parents haven't seen you in nearly two months. Why don't you go catch up with them? I know they want to see you–they've probably been going through withdrawals since their little girl moved halfway around the world from them." Sure enough, we had wound up in the lobby, and Kari's parents were somehow there and had somehow managed to hear what I had said and smiled gratefully. Kari smiled as well. "You're right, T.K. How can you be so selfless? I know you've wanted to see me too, but you'll wait and let others see me first." She kissed me on the cheek. "That's why I love you so much."

"I love you too, Light," I whispered. "I'll see you later, okay? And don't worry, I'll find something to do."

"You read my mind, T.K." Kari smiled and blew me a kiss as she made her way over to her parents. As I watched them talk and Kari light up animatedly, making sure they were alright, I decided to wander a bit more. Mimi and Kari (well mostly Meems) had really splurged on us–there was an exercise room, a spa, a great pool, a fancy restaurant, and a less fancy, outdoor cafÉ towards the front of the hotel. I was about to go back to my room when I saw a flash of pink and called out, "Mimi!"

The blur stopped and began to resemble Mimi. "Yeah?"

"Hey... can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure!" she exclaimed. I laughed. "You're still the same old Mimi, aren't you?"

"I guess." She smiled. "So how have you been, T.K.? I heard about you and Kari. Congrats. You know, she's really excited about it... she's been wanting her senior year to fly by so that she can marry you."

"I've been wanting the same. It's so amazing, this feeling... knowing that it's only a matter of time until you can spend the rest of your life with the one you truly love."

Mimi sighed. "That's so sweet, T.K."

"Well, it's true. Anyway, what's up for tonight? Are we all gonna meet or something?"

"Nah... I figured a lot of people are gonna be tired, and personally, I wanted a bit of alone time with Joe... it's been forever since we've been able to see each other."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. So what are you gonna do?" I asked her.

"I'm gonna take Joe on a tour of NYC... hit all the hot spots, you know–Ground Zero, Empire State Building, Times Square... that whole deal."

"So like... no one's gonna be in your apartment?"

"No... why?"

"I just wanted to hang with Kari tonight, and see what her living arrangements were like. I actually wanted to surprise her with a little romantic evening, but since I've never been here, I wouldn't know where to get candles, flowers... you know all that fun stuff..."

Mimi grinned. "T.K., you're such a sweetie. And there's a little shop right on the corner near our apartment where you can buy all that "fun stuff" as you call it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You and Kari have a good time tonight, okay?"

I nodded. "We will. You, too, Meems, okay? Thanks so much!" I hugged her gratefully and then proceeded to head to my room to get my stuff, when Mimi stopped me. "Um, T.K.? Just one thing... you don't know where my apartment is, do you?"

"Uh... no?"

Mimi laughed. "Get your stuff and I'll take you there. I need to stop by there anyway. Just let me tell Joe that I'll pick him up in a few."

"Okay."

  


After taking care of the stuff we needed to take care of, Mimi and I met at the front of the hotel. "Well, T.K... are you up for walking or for the train? Either way it's not that long... it's about three blocks from here or one stop over on the E train."

"Um..." I pondered. I really wanted to see what the subways were like, but after eighteen hours of sitting, I wanted to stretch my legs some. "How about walking? That way I can stretch my legs a little..." and then another thought crossed my mind. "And I can check out that store you were talking about, too."

"Okay. I need a little exercise myself, too." Mimi grinned and proceeded to lead the way to the apartment. Walking on New York City streets was very interesting–the city was so fast-paced that when I stopped to tie my shoe I nearly got knocked over, and if it wasn't for that fact that Mimi's hair is pink, I wouldn't have been able to find her again. I found myself rushing to keep up with them. "Sorry, T.K.," Mimi turned to me apologetically when she realized my struggle. "I forgot to tell you how fast New Yorkers walk."

"That's okay. I'll get used to it." Pretty soon we were on the corner where we needed to turn. I noticed a stairway that seemed to lead underground across the street as Mimi said, just as a tour guide would, "On your right, folks, is a little shop that sells flowers and candles to those who are interested." She winked at me and then we walked about a quarter of a block to a nice looking off-white apartment complex. 

I followed Mimi into the elevator and marveled at how different the elevators were from others that I'd seen: instead of pressing a button and waiting for the doors to slide open, you simply opened the door like a normal door and the elevator was right there. Very interesting. We got off on the fifth floor and turned left; it was two doors on our right. "Here we are, T.K."

Looking around the room, I found it very cozy. It was a small space, but looked very homey, thanks to the feminine touches Mimi had put in it. There was a shelf of pictures, a TV and DVD player, a small dining room table, and two bedrooms. "Nice place, Meems."

"Thanks. It's not much, but I try to make it as comfortable as possible."

"It's nice." I sat on the comfy flowered couch, trying to decide whether what I wanted to ask my friend was proper or not. "Um... if I wanted to get back inside after passing by the shop... how would I do that?"

Mimi smiled. "Never fear. Kari anticipated that some people might want to stay here so she had extra keys made." She handed me a keyring with several keys on it. "One is for the door to the complex, one is to this apartment, and one is to the mailbox–just in case. I'm gonna go back and get Joe, and I'll hint to Kari that she needs to get home, so everyone is happy."

"Thanks, Mimi. I'll walk with you back to the store."

"Okay. Let me just freshen up so I don't have to come back."

  


As we walked, Mimi explained to me how wonderful it was to have a roommate and how excited she was that Kari–and now everyone else–was here. "It's so great to see Joe again. He's gonna graduate soon so hopefully by Christmas we'll be here together permanently." I could tell by the light in Mimi's eyes and her bright smile that she was truly excited. We chatted a little more until we got to the corner. "Well, I must leave you now. I'm taking the train, so I'm going over there. You kids have fun, okay?"

"Okay, Meems. Thanks so much." I hugged Mimi.

"No problem. You're one of my best friends. How could I not?"

I smiled brightly as Mimi began to descend the stairs. "You're so awesome." After I made sure she was down the stairs, I crossed the street again and entered the store. I was hit by the scent of wonderful flowers and candles, and I spent a good portion of the day buying everything I needed and also setting it back up in the apartment. Ordering take-out, I set the dining table nicely, set the mood with lighting and soft music, and waited for Kari to get in.

About half an hour after I finished getting ready, I heard the key turn in the lock and Kari walk in. She went about her routine until she turned to hang her bag on the stand by the door and noticed all the lit candles and rose petals scattered about. "What... what is al this?" she asked in surprise.

"Surprise," I said, walking out of the kitchen. Kari beamed. "Oh, T.K.... you didn't have to do this for me."

"But I wanted to," I replied, taking her into my arms. "It's been so long since we've been able to spend time together and I really missed you."

"I missed you too, T.K." I kissed her softly and then led her to the table. "Want some dinner?"

"Definitely. I'm starved." As we sat down to eat dinner, we talked about so many things that we had sort of gone over on the phone or IM... but it was so much better seeing Kari's face light up when she discussed a topic that interested her, or watch her excited hand gestures. We talked for hours, until we finally got up and cleared the dinner table. I went to put the dishes in the sink when Kari stopped me. "No. Let me do it. You did all this for me–I need to be able to do something too."

"Okay," I agreed, not objecting. While Kari was pre-occupied in the kitchen, I rushed around the apartment, lighting all the candles that I had bought and quickly brushing my teeth. By the time Kari was done, I had made my way back to the living room and we both sat on the couch. "Hey... I have a question."

"Shoot."

Kari's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "How did you get in here anyway? And... how did you do all of this?" She gestured to all the candles, which she just noticed.

"One word: Mimi."

Kari smiled. "I figured."

We sat there in silence for a few moments, just intently gazing into each other's eyes, when suddenly, by some magical force, we were drawn to each other in a kiss. It slowly intensified from an innocent gesture to a kiss of passion and desire, venting the pent-up energy of not seeing each other for two months. Kari's hands ran through my hair as I played with the hem of her shirt, kissed her neck, and as our embrace became more heated than it had ever been. I pulled away just as Kari managed to pull my shirt off and I looked at her. "Kari... are you sure you want to do this?" My mind recalled an earlier incident and a decision we had made.

  


*Flashback*

_It was a warm day near the end of our junior year and we were sitting watching movies. We had finished watching _Spiderman _and Kari had just turned on the radio to listen to some music while putting away the movies. I stood and pulled her back into my embrace, sitting her down on the couch next to me. "Now that the movie's over," I began, "I can do this." I leaned in to kiss her and she returned my kiss hungrily, a side of Kari that I had never seen before. We kept pushing limits that we had already set when suddenly, Kari broke away abruptly. "I'm sorry... I can't do this."_

_ "Kari... we're not going to do anything you don't want to. I promise."_

_ "I know... it's just that... I've always been taught that I should save myself until marriage... and I don't want to tempt myself into anything I'll regret."_

_ I nodded, and as I was about to reply, I noticed the song that was playing on the radio._

  


You've walked this road so many times

and you swore you knew your way

But now you're looking in persuasive eyes

and you don't know what to say

When he tells you he loves you

When he tells you he needs you,

when he says it feels so right it can't be wrong

When he says it's the right time,

everything is gonna be just fine

Still, you know where your heart belongs

  


So believe that true love waits

Don't let anyone change your ways

Look 'em all straight in the face, and tell 'em,

"No matter what, I'll remain the same

Don't want to be deceived

See I've found the key

Can't you see that I believe, that I believe

that true love waits for me, waits for me"

  


True love would say,

"I'll meet you there if you'll wait"

And true love would say, would say,

"If you wait for me, I'll wait for you, my love"

  
  


_We both looked at each other in recognition. "I guess this is a sign," I said, kissing her forehead. "I promise, I won't do anything unless you're ready."_

_ Kari smiled. "I love you."_

_ "I love you, too, Light."_

*Real time*

  


"Kari, you told me you didn't want to do anything until you were ready," I told her, looking into her deep ruby eyes. "Are you sure?"

Kari nodded. "I'm ready. Besides... we're getting married." She leaned in closer to me and we kissed with a passion that I didn't know existed in either of us. We managed to get her shirt off–it was a tricky kind of shirt–and hands and lips explored new areas as our desire became stronger. I swept Kari off the couch into my arms and carried her into her bedroom, laying her down gently on the soft mattress. Soon it was time and I asked her one more time, "Are you sure?"

  


(_You've told yourself you've been here before_

_You see her face, and then you open the door_

_and now it's up to you_

_so what you gonna do?_

_You love her with a smile, then you love her with a kiss_

_and somehow you both knew that it would come to this_

_When she tells you she loves you,_

_when she tells you she needs you...)_

  


Kari nodded, desire written all over her face. "I want you... I need you."

My lips descended upon hers as we began. "I love you, Kari," I whispered in her ear.

"I... love... you... too," she managed to get out, as she was distracted by other things.

  


~*~

(next morning)

  


I opened my eyes to find the sun streaming through the window and in my arms the most beautiful creature on this earth. I kissed her forehead softly as she stirred. "Good morning, Light," I whispered in her ear.

Kari blinked open her eyes and smiled. "Good morning."

"I wish I could wake up every day like this... you in my arms, the sun shining on us both..."

"You know, T.K.... last night was amazing... it made up for so many nights that I missed you," Kari confessed.

I blushed a little and held her closer to me. "Well I'm glad you are okay with it."

Kari nodded. "It'll be something to treasure when I'm lonely again, when you leave."

I pouted. "Did you have to remind me? Well... at least it'll only be two more months."

We lay there in pure bliss, hearing each other's hearts beat, feeling the rise and fall of our bodies, when suddenly Kari blurted out, "June twenty-first."

"What?" I asked, totally confused.

"June twenty-first. That's the day I want to get married."

"Okay. That means we have to get everything ready–we only have eight months to plan this wedding."

Kari grinned. "Don't worry about it. I mean, we've got Mimi here, and Sora there. We'll figure it all out, I promise."

I gazed at her intently. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are? Like an angel... my angel... my angel of light." I kissed her forehead again. "I love you, Light."

"I love you, too," Kari replied. Then she leaned over at the clock. "Well... we better get up... we have things to do and a party to go to!"

  


The engagement party for Tai and Sora went well. It was a smaller party–just the Digidestined and a few parents–and so it was very close and you could feel the love in the room. We had a great time reminiscing about our adventures in the Digiworld and fantasizing about the future. After the party, we all went out for a night on the town, going to all the tourist places Joe and Mimi went to the day before. All in all, it was a great trip to New York–and I did get to ride the subways just as I wanted to.

The time for us to leave snuck up on us way too fast, and Mimi and Kari saw us off at the airport. I hugged Kari tightly. "Two more months to go... have fun here, okay?"

"I will. But I'll miss you."

"Just think about what you said you would," I reminded her. "And always remember that I love you." I hugged her again and I could feel a tear come from Kari's eye. "Oh... Light, don't cry."

"I'm sorry... it's just that I love you so much and I can't bear to watch you leave. I don't want to be apart from you."

I took Kari's hands into my own. "Listen to me. You came here to take the opportunity of a lifetime. You're only gonna be here two more months–then you can come back home to us, okay?"

Kari nodded tearfully. "I promise you'll see me in two more months," I told her. "Until then, have fun."

Even though Kari had tears in her eyes, that spark of determination that she inherited from her brother shone through. "Okay. Be safe, T.K."

"I will. And I'll start making arrangements as soon as I get home, okay?"

"Okay." Kari stood on her tiptoes to kiss me. "I love you, T.K."

"Love you too, Kari. Always and forever."

  


Those two months went by faster than I thought they would. I still missed Kari greatly and I still talked to her frequently, but lots of things kept me busy–college applications, homework, basketball practice, all that jazz, that I didn't miss Kari insanely. I was grateful for that–missing Kari made life painful. The day soon came that Kari would be coming back; Mimi was coming with her to attend Tai and Sora's wedding, then she and Joe would fly back to New York. When she arrived back on Japanese soil, she twirled around in happiness. "Oh, I missed Japan." We chattered excitedly on the way back–it was just she and I this time, since her parents were busy with Tai, I had offered to pick her up–and then before I pulled out of the parking lot, Kari suddenly grew serious. "Um... T.K.... I have something to tell you. I didn't tell you before because I just found out, and it's not something to tell over the phone or IM. This is gonna be something that will change our lives forever."

I nodded. "Okay. What is it?"

Kari took a deep breath and then began, "T.K., you remember that night when you came and visited us in New York, right?"

"Of course... how could I ever forget that?"

Kari half-smiled. "Well... there isn't any easy way to say this, but... I'm pregnant."

  
  


Well, well well... very interesting. Aaron and Hope had to come from somewhere, didn't they? Anyway, be happy, because next chapter is the wedding! (I think.) Please review by clicking that cool little button that says "Go" after highlighting "Submit Review". Please? I will be happy if you do....


	13. Chapter Ten: Happiness

AN: Lookie! It only took me two weeks this time, instead of two months! Hehehe =D

Anyway, seriously, I want to say thank you guys for all your kind words. I know I've been chiding you for the last three chapters to review, but I seriously think this'll be the chapter that will get me 100 reviews. YAY! Can you guys do that for me? Please? *pouts* I will love you all so much.

  


In other news, most of this chapter... or half of it anyway, maybe a bit less... was written in the wee hours of the morning, since I am prepping myself to stay up late, for I am journeying to Disneyland today, I guess, since it's past midnight, but anyways, I'm journeying there for Grad Night! YAY! So I must try and get all the sleep I can this morning. Haha. Anyway, so if the last half of the chapter looks weird, don't blame me. I tried. I really did.

  


To all the fanfic writers out there–REJOICE AND BE GLAD! Summer is here!!!! Which means, more time to write! YAY! Along those lines, I can see a definite three more chapters of this story, plus the epilogue chapter (the one that's not in the book), and one more interlude, which should happen right after this chapter. I'm already postponing the interlude by one chapter, but now I have a few more ideas for an interlude so all is well. Okay. Oh, one more thing before I let you guys read (well maybe two):

  


_Azn Angel Hikari_: Just a little note–T.K. and Kari don't split up immediately after this [oops guess I spoiled it for all of you who haven't read "Together Again" and don't know what happens =D]; Aaron is six and Hope is four when it all goes down. So they have a few more years to go. 

  


And the disclaimer–

*sigh* Must I continue to repeat myself? They're not mine! Geez! *runs away in frustration*

  


*

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Ten: Happiness

I blinked in reaction to Kari's statement. "We didn't use protection," I realized, speaking softly. "Are... will you be okay?"

"I guess... I mean, for most people this would be a huge shock... I really don't mind it because I know that you and I will be married soon, but... wow."

Kari and I sat there in stunned silence for a minute. "We're having a baby," I finally said, half to myself and half to Kari. "We created a life."

My fiancÉe smiled at me. "That we did." She involuntarily placed a hand over her abdomen and I put my hand over hers, returning her smile. "Kari, no matter what, I promise I'll be here for you. I'm not leaving you because you're going to have a baby–in fact, I intend to do just the opposite."

Kari's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you. I know this is going to be hard for both of us... thank you so much for not leaving me."

"Of course not, Light. I love you. I'm going to marry you. This is just another reason to stay with you."

  


~*~

  


"Eighteen! You just turned eighteen!"

It was the day after Kari had returned, two days before Tai and Sora's wedding. It also happened to be Kari's eighteenth birthday, and the day we were going to break the news to her parents.

"I know, Mom... but T.K. and I intend to raise this child together. We are getting married in six months, after all. That was part of the plan before this came along," Kari explained.

Mr. Kamiya sighed. "You children are so young though. You'll barely be out of high school and newlyweds when the baby comes... what are people going to think of you?"

Kari stood up indignantly. "What are you suggesting? Are you saying that people will think I'm a slut?"

"I didn't say that, Hikari. I just don't want you to get hurt," her father sternly addressed his daughter. "We love you, and we just want what's best for you."

"And you don't think that T.K. and our child are what's best for me," Kari finished for him.

Mrs. Kamiya leaned over and took Kari's hand. "Kari, honey, if it were any other situation, believe me, we'd be much angrier. We know T.K. loves you and will take care of you–we have faith in him. That's why we gave you two our blessing. It's just that the position you're in right now is so difficult. You're both still in high school, and you still have that stress to deal with, as well as getting into college, all of your other extra-curriculars, and planning both a wedding and finding a place to stay and raise your baby. Your father and I are especially glad that T.K. is here to help, because most other guys would not, but it is still extremely difficult to do what you're going to have to do. We're just concerned, that's all. We wouldn't dare ask you to give up your baby or its father."

Kari smiled. "Really?"

Mr. Kamiya nodded. "You're an adult now, Kari. As much as we hate the fact, it's the truth, and we just need to let go. It's much harder to see you go when you're so much more vulnerable. Just please try to understand where we're coming from."

"I understand. And I'm sorry that we've put you in this position, but we're going to make it. You'll see."

"Oh, Kari. We know you will." Hugs were exchanged all around, and I bravely shook hands with Kari's father. He didn't say much to me, but there was an unspoken agreement between us that we both understood; if anything happened to Kari, I'd be in for it.

  


~*~

  


The rest of our senior year flew by; at the same time when we were getting acceptances and rejections from colleges, Kari and I were planning what kind of cake and flowers to have at the wedding. Mimi had promised to make her dress as a present, while Sora was doing all the centerpieces. I think all of our friends knew the kind of burden having a wedding right out of high school was, especially with a baby on the way. There were tux fittings and basketball games on the same days; trying to figure out where we'd be living at the same time we were trying to figure out what schools we'd be going to; and AP tests and caterers appointments filled other days. Occasionally, I'd be walking through the halls of school with Kari and I'd catch a suspicious glance come our way, but Kari didn't let it get to her; she held her head high and walked as if the growing bulge in her stomach didn't exist. Or better yet, she walked a bit more proudly _because_ of that child growing inside her–our son or daughter gave her strength. But I saw what she was trying to hide; every little look, every little comment brought a little more hurt to Kari.

With all the things we were doing, we somehow found time to visit a doctor and to see how our baby was doing. Kari's due date was established as around July twenty-first, and we later learned that our firstborn would be a boy. Instead of focusing in math class on how to take the integral of an equation, Kari would doodle on her notebook, writing down boy names that she liked. We finally decided on Aaron–we had looked up the meaning of that name and found it to be "light-bringer," something Kari and I both appreciated.

  


Finally, we graduated, two weeks before the wedding. It was harder for Kari to move around–Kari had always been petite and skinny, and even through her pregnancy, she didn't show much. Still, having the extra weight slowed her down some and she rested a little bit more. This made me a little wary and a little more overprotective. 

As our impending wedding grew closer, Kari and I both became more and more excited. The girls held a bridal shower for her, while the guys tried to throw a bachelor party for me. Somehow Davis got in on the planning committee and it ended up being quite the disaster; however, we made the best of what we had. It's one of those experiences I like looking back on and laughing at–Davis, somehow, was a great supplier of all those moments.

The night of June twenty came, finally, on a joyous occasion. We were at the rehearsal dinner and Tai and Sora had just announced that they were expecting as well. Congratulations were offered all around as Kari gingerly stood and hugged her sister-in-law. As the girls chatted, Tai approached me. "Well, tomorrow we become brothers," he said.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you ready?"

"Tai, I've been ready since the day I asked her to marry me... and a few days before then, too." I inhaled deeply. "It's just... all of this has been overwhelming. People were right when they told us that, but I think it's worth everything in the world."

"Yeah... especially being an uncle." Tai grinned. "I can't wait to be an uncle–I thought I'd have to wait for a little longer. You two surprised us."

"Yeah, well... it's amazing what two months of separation can do two a couple."

Tai laughed good-naturedly. "I know what you mean. I know so many people have told you this, but if it was any other guy, and any other situation, it wouldn't be such a good thing. But we know you guys love each other–I mean we could see it back when you were thirteen–and I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt Kari. And she's always dreamed of being a mother–she's always loved children. We're all happy for you two, we can see the happiness practically radiating from you."

"Thanks, Tai. It really means a lot that we have your support."

  


That night, I lay in bed, wondering about the possibilities before us. We were going back to New York for our honeymoon, with Mimi and Joe; but we still didn't know what we were doing after that. I had been accepted into several colleges–some in Japan, others in the United States, and the college Kari had gone to during her stay there had accepted her in as well. As I perused this information in my head, it occurred to me that it would be much easier for both Kari and myself to move to New York, especially because we both had scholarships to the colleges that had accepted us. Actually, I then remembered, I had applied to the same college that offered the study abroad program–the application for the program doubled as an application for the college itself–and although they did not accept me for the program, the college did take me. A plan formulated in my head as I lay there.

I also thought about what was going to happen tomorrow. I was going to exit one stage of my life and enter another; all with Kari by my side. Soon we were going to become parents, have a life totally dependent on us. I lay there, thinking of all the blessings God had supplied me with and thanking Him for them... and as I wished that I could be a good husband and father, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

  


I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. I mean, I did sleep–otherwise images of Kari, our family and our future wouldn't have graced my dreams–but for some reason it was hard for me to sleep. I woke up to the first rays of dawn streaming through my window and glanced at the clock. 5:12 a.m. Wow... it was pretty early for the sun to be coming up. I lazily hit the radio button on my alarm clock and listened to hear what was going on.

"Did you know that today is the summer solstice, the first day of summer? This day is marked by the amount of sunlight spilled on the earth–the summer solstice is the day that the earth receives the most light–the sun rises the earliest and the sun sets the latest on this day."

Suddenly, it occurred to me why Kari wanted to get married today. Today was the day with the most light. Smiling, I lay back down in my bed and slept for a few more hours.

  


When I awoke again, people were already bustling around. I could hear voices outside my door–most likely Tai, Matt and Mimi arguing. I think they were debating whether or not to wake me up. Mimi was insisting that I wake up now and try on my tux, while Tai and Matt were defending my need to sleep.

"Okay, okay, guys, I'm up," I interrupted them, throwing open the door. "With all this racket, how do you think I could sleep?"

The three of them looked at me sheepishly. "Well, Mr. I'm-going-to-be-married-in-a-few-hours, go take a shower and try this on, okay?" Mimi threw my tux at me.

"Fine." If this was the scene here, I could only imagine what it would look like at Kari's place.

  


All too soon, we found ourselves at the church. It was about fifteen minutes before the ceremony, and I was about to take my place at the altar, when I ran into Kari's father. "Mr. Kamiya, hello."

"Hello, Takeru." He looked at me expectantly, as if he was waiting for me to say something.

"Um... I just wanted to say thank you for giving Kari and me your blessing. It really means a lot that you trust me with her."

Mr. Kamiya smiled. "T.K., we've known you since you were eight. You and Kari have always been so close, you became like another son to us. Today it becomes official. Thank you for making Kari happy, and for giving us a grandchild."

I blushed a bit and said, "You're welcome." I turned to walk away, but he called me back. "And T.K.... don't be so nervous. It was only a matter of time before this was going to happen."

The time flew by and finally, it was time for the ceremony. I stood eagerly at the altar, with Matt, as my best man, at my side. Because of this very special event, the Digimon were here as well. Gabumon was our ringbearer; he processed down the aisle first. Next came Palmon, throwing flowers out of a basket held up by Patamon. I smiled at my Digimon friend and felt so grateful that he was here with us to share this special time with me. Agumon and Biyomon walked down the aisle together after that. Then came the human part of our wedding party. Yolei was escorted by Davis, while Mimi was escorted by Tai. Rounding out the party was Sora, Kari's matron of honor. I could see her gaze wistfully at her husband, as if they were re-living their own wedding not too long ago. I smiled at this affection, then nervously darted my eyes to the closed doors of the vestibule, where I knew Kari was waiting.

The wedding march began and everyone stood and faced the back, as I did, and waiting there was Kari, on the arm of her father. My first glance at her took my breath away. She looked so beautiful as she walked up gracefully towards the altar–towards me. My heartbeat quickened as she drew nearer, and for a while it seemed that it was just the two of us in the whole room. Her dress was modest and elegant, and you could only barely tell that she was pregnant, unless you knew already. But the most beautiful thing about her was her smile, her smile directed towards me, her eyes shimmering with happy tears.

I watched my bride intently glide up to the front of the church, Gatomon behind her holding up her veil, until she and her father reached the altar. [AN: that's a weird sentence. it kind of rhymes.] Once they arrived, Mr. Kamiya turned to his daughter and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Kari. And I will always be here for you if you need me, okay?"

"I know, Dad." She smiled. "I love you, too."

I watched as Kari's father took her hand and offered it to me. "She's yours now. Please take good care of her."

I nodded. "I will. I promise." I took my bride's hand while Mr. Kamiya returned to his seat next to Kari's mother, and the picture was complete–the ceremony was about to begin.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two young people..." the preacher began. I soon focused out–all I could focus on was the vision in front of me. "Kari, you look amazing."

She smiled brightly. "Thank you." She appeared to be in thought, never breaking eye contact, and then she said, "I can't believe we're finally here."

"I know." I lifted my hand, holding hers, up to my mouth and kissed her hand softly. "This is going to be the happiest moment of our lives, so treasure it, okay?"

"Of course."

The ceremony went by in a blur, until it was time for the vows. "The couple has prepared their own vows," the preacher announced, and with that, Kari began to speak.

"I don't know where to begin... I met you ten years ago, Takeru, when I was a fragile, innocent, shy child. You were there to lead me, to be my friend, my companion. You became a part of me from an early age, and I do not know how I can ever survive without you in my life. Whatever came in our way, you had this resilient hope within you, something that helped me keep going. You have given me so much and protected me from so much, and I thank you. I realize that I cannot exist without you, because without Hope, there is no Light, and so I promise to be there for you, no matter what, through bad times and good times, through sickness and health, through richer or poorer, until death do us part." A single tear fell from Kari's eye, but she managed to smile up at me. I wiped her tear away with the pad of my thumb before reciting my own vows to my very-soon-to-be wife.

"Hikari... my angel of light..." I trailed off, telling myself to breathe or else I wouldn't be able to say the rest of my vows, "We've known each other for so long, and through that time we have become so close that we are now a part of each other. We started as playmates, then as friends, then best friends, and finally lovers. You have shown me what it is truly like to love someone, to want to give your whole heart and soul to protect that person, to honor your commitment to her through anything that tries to come between... you have given me so much, and shown me so much. If I had to describe you in one word, that word would be beautiful, because not only do your eyes shine with the light of love, your hair rippling in the breeze, but you have the kindest, most amazing heart of anyone I know, and it truly makes me wonder how that heart can feel so much for someone like me. Know that I can never be without you, for without Light, there is no Hope. I promise to love you, to honor you, to cherish you, to obey you, to be by your side always, protecting your beautiful heart, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part." I smiled at Kari, tears pricking the back of my own eyes. 

"The rings, please," the minister asked, and Gabumon presented Sora and Matt with the rings. I took Kari's ring from Matt and slipped it–a simple, yet beautiful, gold band with a tiny pinkish-white diamond–on her finger, repeating after the minister, "With this ring, I thee wed."

In the same fashion, Kari took my wedding ring from Sora and slipped it on my finger, echoing, "With this ring, I thee wed."

I grinned at Kari as I realized that the ceremony was pretty much over. I couldn't hear exactly what the minister was saying–I was too busy smiling and gazing at Kari, but I heard loud and clear, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Takeru Takaishi." He turned to me and said, "You may now kiss your bride."

"Kari, we did it," I whispered to her, before lifting up her veil, cupping her face in my hands, and lifting her chin up softly so that her lips could meet mine. Right before our lips brushed, Kari whispered, "T.K., I love you..." I could hear the applause and the cheering faintly, but all I could focus on was the first married kiss between Kari, my new wife, and me.

  


After the wedding, we headed to the reception, and in the car, Kari and I were just basking in the afterglow of becoming husband and wife when all of a sudden, Kari gasped and her hand flew to her stomach. "What? What's wrong?"

Kari smiled. "Nothing... it's just that the baby is kicking... he's happy his mommy and daddy are finally married. Aren't you, sweetie?" she said to her stomach, addressing our son. I smiled and kissed her forehead. "So am I, Kari, so am I."

  


We got to the reception and basically had a blast. We did the cake, the bouquet toss (Mimi caught that), the garter toss (Joe caught _that_, surprise surprise), the toasts, and all that other fun stuff, when it was finally time for the first dance. The DJ announced it and I took Kari's hand and led her to the dance floor. As I listened to the words of the song flow through the room, holding Kari closely, I gazed lovingly at my wife, and she asked, "What?"

I didn't say anything for a minute, until I finally told her, "I love you, Hikari Takaishi. And there are no words to express just how deeply I love you–except maybe this song."

Kari smiled and tightened her hold around my neck.

  


_Never knew I could feel like this,_

_like I've never seen the sky before_

_Want to vanish inside your kiss_

_Every day I love you more and more_

_Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing?_

_It's telling me to give you everything_

_Seasons may change, winter to spring,_

_but I love you until the end of time_

  


_Come what may, come what may,_

_I will love you until my dying day_

  


I was filled with so much love for Kari and stuck with no way to express it–it was quite overwhelming. So I just held her close as we moved to the flow of the song, as Nicole Kidman's voice replaced Ewan McGregor's. I could hear Kari singing the words softly in my ear as we danced.

  


_Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place_

_Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace_

_Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste_

_It all revolves around you_

_And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide_

_Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side_

_Storm clouds may gather, and stars may collide,_

_but I love you until the end of time_

  


_Come what may, come what may,_

_I will love you until my dying day_

  


_Oh, come what may, come what may,_

_I will love you..._

  


_Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place..._

  


_Come what may, come what may,_

_I will love you until my dying day_

  


~*~

  


The party was winding down, and so I decided to take Kari on a little walk. We headed out to the gardens, where the huge arch full of roses was that everyone walked through, and sat on a bench that had somehow been placed underneath it. "Oh, Kari, today has been amazing."

"I know. And it's just the beginning." She smiled and kissed me gently, then pulled away as I cradled her face in my hands and kissed her forehead even more gently, as her hands came to rest on my forearms. We stayed there like that for a minute until a bright flash blinded the both of us. As we turned to see who had taken that picture, we found Sora standing there, beaming happily. "You know, there were so many formal pictures of you guys taken, that I needed to find an informal one, and that was the perfect pose you guys just had–I couldn't resist. Sorry." 

"Oh, Sora, that's just fine. Come here." Kari stood and gave her sister-in-law a big hug. "Thank you for helping me with this wedding."

  


With the reception over, and Tai, Sora and Mimi promising to clean up for us, Kari and I were on our way to our honeymoon. We were settling in the room Tai and Sora had put up for us before leaving for our honeymoon the next day. Kari had laid her wedding dress on the bed and was now in comfortable clothes. She sat on the bed, absentmindedly stroking the sequins of her gown, when all of a sudden she burst into tears. I had been hanging up my tux, my back turned to her, but I rushed to her side and knelt before her. "Kari, are you okay?"

She didn't say anything, just kept on crying. I got up and held her. "Oh, Kari, are you regretting this?" My heart stopped beating at my suggestion

"No, no... it's everything I've ever wanted," she insisted quickly. Then she looked up at me, amazingly able to quell her tears for a moment. "Don't ever doubt my love for you, okay?" She pulled me closer to her and kissed me, something that to this day I never tire of. After a few moments, she pulled away, getting up and hanging her dress next to my tux, as I sprawled out on the bed. Kari returned and knelt on the bed next to me, gazing down at me. "So... are you going to tell me what's up? Kari, you know the one thing that I cannot stand in this world is the sight of you being hurt. Tell me what's wrong. Please?"

Kari sighed, but shifted her position to laying next to me. I took her in my arms and began to stroke her hair lightly, in an effort to comfort her. "Oh, T.K... it's just that our senior year took a lot out of me, you know? Planning the wedding, finding out I was pregnant–everyone at school looked at me as if I was a freak." Now that she had started, I listened as the words came tumbling out of her mouth. "It was so hard to be without you for that span of time, and then when I did come back, we were planning the wedding and taking care of this little one, as well as everything else, trying to be normal teenagers, and..." Kari started to cry again as she explained things to me, and I held her closer to me as she began to sob. "People would look at me and turn their nose down, you know? And I would hear girls gossiping in the bathroom about how I turned into a slut after being a goody-goody, and that you were only with me because I was pregnant, you know, and I mean I didn't let it get to me, but now that everything's over... it's just been pent up for so long..." Kari trailed off and I held her close, stroking her hair, kissing her forehead. "I'm so sorry, Light. I didn't mean to do any of that to you."

"But that's the thing... none of it was your fault."

"Well, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be pregnant," I commented dryly.

"And I don't regret it for a second. You have given me so much, including the one thing I've always wanted–a child. Even if it is going to be hard for us, we'll make it through, because we promised each other we would, right?"

"Of course." I kissed her forehead again as I saw her play with her wedding ring on her finger. Hearing her comment made me think. "Hey, Kar? I have a suggestion for you, but I don't know if you'll like it."

Kari sat up. "What is it?"

"I know how hard this has been for you, your senior year. I also know how hard it will be for us to be able to raise this little boy here without jobs, without a place to live... I wouldn't want to impose on either of our parents, and with college and everything, there's going to be so much cost."

Kari nodded. "I realize that. But... what are you trying to say?"

I exhaled. "I thought of something the other day... you can go to that college you went to last year right? When you were in New York?"

"Yeah..."

"And somehow, I got a full ride to that same college..."

My wife's eyes twinkled. "Are you suggesting that we move to America?"

"Maybe..." I playfully replied, kissing her nose softly. "Just think, we could move in with Mimi and Joe, find work, and be able to raise this child away from all the stress that you've already been placed under, while not having to pay for college."

"Oh, T.K., I would love to... even if it means leaving my family behind."

I exhaled again. "Yeah, I don't like that part of the plan, but I mean, once we get a place of our own, we'll be able to let them visit, and besides, Matt's band is touring the U.S. soon, and isn't Tai thinking of moving to Washington, D.C. to talk to the politicians over there about how he wants to be an ambassador to the Digital World?"

"Yeah, he did say something about that," Kari mused. 

"Then what do you say, should we do it?"

"It's a big step..." 

I took Kari's hand into my own. "Light, I'll do whatever you want to do, okay? If that means staying here, then I'll stay here, find a job, go to Odaiba U, whatever you want. I just want what's best for us."

"I know." Kari interlaced her fingers with mine. "T.K., I really want to go to New York. We're starting a new chapter in our lives and I don't want to be held down by parents or other people–I want to be able to live my life freely. I know we can do that there, as well as have some help in raising this baby as well as continuing our education. And..." she placed our hands on her slightly bulging stomach, "I want our child to be an American citizen."

"So in other words... you want us to do this right away?"

Kari nodded. "As soon as we get back from our honeymoon."

"Okay. We'll make the arrangements as soon as possible." I wrapped my arms around Kari again as we lay there, amazed at the fact that we were going to be sharing our lives together, fully and totally.

  


~*~

  


We cut our honeymoon short by a week, in order to get everything ready for our big plan. Besides, I didn't want to do too much anyway–Kari wasn't really in a condition to do anything. So instead we planned what we would do, what we would have to give up, and what to bring with us, as we somehow found a way to get there, as well. Our parents weren't thrilled at all–what else is new–but we explained to them that what we wanted to do, and since we were married now, there wasn't much they could do about it. So in two weeks, we packed up a small percentage of the belongings we had once owned, and made our way to the United States.

Mimi and Joe had graciously accepted us into their home with no questions asked, but instead doting on us, especially Kari, and making sure we were okay. I was especially concerned about Kari because she was approaching her due date and I didn't want her to have to give birth on a plane, or in an airport. Fortunately, there were no complications on our trip here. However, I knew the day was coming very soon. And on July twenty-first, just as the doctor had predicted, Kari shook me awake at two-thirty in the morning. Actually, we were both awake, our bodies still on Japan time, but Kari's push jolted me into an extremely awake mode.

"Kari, what's wrong? Is it the baby?"

She gritted her teeth and then sprawled back on the bed. "Yes... I think I'm in labor."

"Okay, hold on. Let me get Joe." The very wonderful thing about our plan was that Joe was now interning at a local hospital not very far from the apartment–closer than the hotel Mimi had put us up in back when Tai and Sora had their engagement party. Thankfully, I had raced outside and found Joe poring over some book. He looked up at me and noticed my panic. "T.K.? Are you okay? Is it Kari?"

I nodded. "Yeah... she thinks she's going into labor. Can you check on her?"

"Sure." With great haste, Joe was up and in Kari's room in no time. She was lying very calmly, waiting for us to get there. "Hey, Kari. What's the status?"

"Well my water broke about ten minutes ago and the contractions are far apart and not as strong–" She was cut off as I guess another contraction hit her. "Okay, Kari, just breathe deeply... that's right... don't take this the wrong way but I gotta see where you're at, okay?" Joe reassured her.

Kari nodded vigorously and Joe checked underneath Kari's nightdress to see her status. "Well, you're about two centimeters so far. We're gonna get you to the hospital, okay?"

"Okay." Not knowing what to do, I stood there dumbly, but frantic. "T.K., can you get an overnight bag and throw some things in it?" Kari requested.

"Already taken care of," a new voice sounded. It was Mimi, triumphantly holding a bag. "This should be about everything, Kari. Now, let's get you to the hospital!"

With that said, the four of us rushed out of the apartment, Kari in a wheelchair that Joe had found somewhere in the apartment. I don't know how he got it, but I was thankful that he did. Anyway, we made it to the hospital, checked Kari in, and while Joe went to assist, Mimi and I paced. Or, to be more specific, I paced and Mimi tried to calm me. "T.K.," she said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "be calm. Everything will be fine."

"I really hope so, Meems. This is my first child... I don't know what to expect, what to do..."

"Here." She gently took my wrist and led me somewhere–I don't know where. But in a few moments we were standing in front of a bright room full of bassinets. "Look at all these new lives, T.K. In a few hours–hopefully–one of them will be yours."

I gazed at the tiny babies that were sleeping peacefully in their bassinets. They were so small, but so perfect... there was so much potential for all of them. I could envision new parents holding their bundle of joy and making all the aspirations parents want for their children, and I smiled. Our little boy was going to be no different–he held all the hopes and dreams Kari and I had for him; that's one of the reasons why Kari wanted him to be born here. I retreated out of my own thoughts and turned to Mimi. "Thanks, Mimi. I think I'll go see Kari now–I have a feeling she might need me."

  


Sure enough, I headed into the delivery room after being scrubbed to hear Kari's screams of pain. I winced, hating to see her like this, and saw her shoot a death glare at me. "Takaishi, you're not coming near me ever again!" she yelled, and I could hear one of the doctors stifle a chuckle. I ignored her and stroked her hair and held her hand, and she squeezed it extremely hard as another contraction ripped through her. "Okay, Kari, push... you're almost there." I was amazed at how fast the contractions were coming and how strong they seemed to be–it felt like Kari was bruising my hand. Finally, the doctors chided her, "Come on, Kari, just one more."

"I can't do it," Kari cried, her exhaustion apparent. I was worried for her–she had always been weak and susceptible to illness, especially as a child, and I was afraid that this was going to make her ill again. Yet I knew that she had to do it for the sake of not having our child stuck in her, so I kissed her forehead, patted it down with a cool washcloth, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Light, just one more. I know you can do it." And with me whispering soothing words, she pushed and our first-born came into the world.

His shrill cries filled the delivery room as everyone smiled with joy–Mimi, Joe, myself, and Kari, especially–and the doctors announcing "It's a boy!" Kari sank back in her bed and closed her eyes, then opened them as I had the honors of cutting his umbilical cord. As the nurses went to go clean him off, I smiled down on my wife. "You did it, Kari. I'm so proud of you."

Kari laughed dryly. "Remind me to reject any advance you make for the next year. At least."

I laughed. "But we have an amazing gift." Right as I said this, one of the nurses brought the baby, wrapped in blankets and a small blue beanie on his head, to Kari's bedside and placed him in the arms of his mother. Kari's eyes filled with tears as she gazed upon her–our–newborn son. Kari gasped right away when the baby opened his eyes to see his mommy. "Oh, T.K., look–he has your eyes." She looked up at me and smiled, then turned to her son. "Hello, there, little one. I'm your mommy... oh, you're so perfect." She kissed his tiny forehead softly. "And that's your daddy right there. Say hello to him." Kari offered me our son and I smiled, then took the small bundle from her arms.

"Hi, there. I'm your daddy... and I can tell right now that you're gonna be a great son, and a great person. Your mommy and I have so many hopes for you, so many dreams that we hope you can fulfill for us. But right now, you don't have to worry about that, okay? Just know that we love you... we love you so very much, and all you have to worry about is being cute and being loved, okay?" I placed the tip of my index finger in my son's tiny hand and he grasped it hard. I smiled. "Don't worry, I'll always be here for you when you need me to be, okay?" I felt this overwhelming rush of emotion come to me, something I had never felt before–pure, unconditional love, and the need to protect and guide this life, knowing that he was depending totally on Kari and me. It was amazing, the feeling of knowing that someone totally trusted and depended on you.

  


Later, we had settled into Kari's room and she was holding the baby intently, playing with him as his newborn gurgle made us all smile. "Kari, what's his name?"

"Aaron," she replied promptly. "Didn't we already decide on that?"

"Yeah... but he needs a middle name too."

"Okay. I think I want all our children to have some sort of a Japanese name, even though they're born here, so that they can retain their culture."

"Fair enough. So what do you think?" I asked my wife. We sat in silence for a moment, and then I thought of the answer. "Taro."

Kari smiled. "Yes, that fits him perfectly. Happy birthday, Aaron Taro."

  


The next day, I had left and come back very quickly, when there was a knock at the door. "Can we come in?"

We looked to the door and saw nearly ALL of our friends and family–parents, siblings, their significant others, other Digidestined–all standing in the doorway, or attempting to all stand in the doorway. I looked at them in amazement and Kari gasped. "Oh, my gosh! How did you all get here so fast?"

"Mimi called us as soon as she knew you were going into labor and we jetted our way over here! How is he doing?" Tai asked.

"Oh, Aaron is doing wonderful." Kari beamed. "He's so amazing." All the girls came in and began to fuss and coo over how cute he was, and I heard the comment every so often about the resemblance between his eyes and my own. I just shook my head and walked over to the guys. "So, how does it feel to be a father?" Tai asked, curiosity shining in his eyes.

I grinned. "It's so amazing, Tai. You realize that there's this life, this person who needs you totally, and it's just... amazing. It's hard to describe in words, but once you have your own child, you'll understand."

"I hope so."

  


Later that day, after all the mingling had been done, someone yelled out "Group picture!" and everyone scrambled around trying to find a place. Since there were so many of us, we went out to the lobby of the floor Kari was in and cleared out some of the furniture. Davis dragged the rocking chair out of the nursery–much to the protests of the nurses–to the middle of the lobby, so that Kari could sit. Everyone posed around us and someone–I didn't know who it was–yelled out to get ready, but all I could do was stare at my beautiful wife and my amazing son, trying to grasp the reality that they were both mine. I knelt next to Kari's chair and admired the mother and son. "You two look so beautiful."

Kari smiled. "Thank you. T.K., sometimes I don't know what I would do without you–you're too good to me."

I shook my head. "Not good enough." We continued to gaze into each other's eyes until we realized that the picture had been taken and Aaron started to cry. "Oh, shh," Kari soothed, rocking Aaron in her arms. "It'll be okay."

Soon, Aaron fell fast asleep, and I could tell Kari was worn out, so I offered to take Aaron to the nursery for her. Kari smiled gratefully and Tai helped her back to her room, while Davis dutifully returned the rocking chair back where he had found it. As I laid little Aaron down in his bassinet, I couldn't help but think about what Kari had told him. "It'll be okay." And somehow, I knew that things would work out for us.

  
  
  
  
  


Aww, isn't that so cute? =D I had fun writing this chapter. Two more notes–the song T.K. and Kari dance to, at their wedding, is called "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge. It's a beautiful song, go DL it or listen to it if you haven't heard it okay? =D And... Aaron's middle name, Taro, means "first born" in Japanese, I think, because I looked it up but you never know, these Internet people can be slightly off. So let me know if I got it wrong okay? In the meantime, REVIEW! Get me to 100! Please!!! *gets on knees and begs* please please please please please...?


	14. Interlude Three: A Spark of Love

an: First and foremost, I must thank you all for bringing me to 100+ reviews! YAY!!!! You guys, collectively, got a shoutout on my profile, but you get another one here. Thanks to all my reviewers:

First, the people that have been with me from the start—_Azn__ Angel Hikari, Star Light (#15) –that must suck to have 14 other people with the same name as you, BTW, _Little Birdie, Emmanuel, TogetherAgain, _whose name matches the prequel of this story, and that is really cool, __chloe-laroo_, Takerus Lost Angel, + TheAngelofLove – Kuroi_ – you guys rock. Thanks for sticking with me from the beginning, and staying! I hope you continue to enjoy this stuff!_

And then to others: DJ Green Lantern, veralidaine-sarrasri, flipstahhz, K9 (thanks for still reading even though you didn't find what you were looking for!), Agumon 2003, and Sunshine Anderson, among others, 'cause they've reviewed multiple chapters, thanks for your great comments. Also to the people with obscure names and to those who have only reviewed once—but still reviewed—thanks for all your feedback and kind words, it makes me feel special. =D 

To Twilight Vin, yes I've heard that Kari is older than T.K. by some months, but I think I addressed that in an author's note somewhere in this story…

And now for the regular, long, boring author's notes!

--Look! I haven't abandoned you! This chapter is insanely long, maybe because it might be the last interlude. But you get to decide on that. It's hard to write when you have two awesome stories which you have inspiration for both running through your head, but have no time to write. *frustrated sigh* I wish I could just put something to my head and not have to type at all. You know, I just read a story that had a diary that did that… but anyway, I digress…

This interlude focuses mainly on Hope and Kevin. YAY! Now, I have news for you—there are only about two or three more chapters of the actual book and it's done. That doesn't mean the story's quite done, though. So, do you guys want another interlude, in between the ending of the book and the wedding (the final chapter), kind of like Kari's thoughts on the book and maybe something to tie up all the loose ends, or do you want me to go straight to the wedding without any interruption? Let me know.

Hope you like this chapter! I had fun writing it. Oh yeah—*gasp* _three_ song credits, without giving away the chapter:

-"How Long" by Dream (Hope sings that one)

-"I Could Fall in Love" by Selena (played in the flashback)

-"There You Were" by Jessica Simpson and Marc Antony (the duet)

And, of course, the disclaimer:

Okay, okay, I claim most of these people… but not T.K. and Kari, okay? Grr.

Onto the story.--

*

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1One Light, One Hope

Interlude Three: A Spark of Love

            _Ding-dong!_

            "I'll get it!" Aaron Kamiya-Takaishi yelled, out of pure habit, but then realized that there was no one else available. Rolling his eyes at himself, he rushed to the door and opened it, revealing his cousin, Raymond Ishida, and some of his friends from the summer camp that had changed his life–Steve Kido and Justin Hida. However, there was one more person with them that he didn't recognize, and then Aaron realized that they were here as a band first and then his friends second.

            "Hey, guys, what's up?" Aaron asked them, ushering them in, letting them sit on the couch. 

            "Not much," Steve answered. "It's been a while since we've seen you, though, Aaron. We're actually here to see your mom and possibly your sister, but we haven't decided on that one yet."

            Aaron noticed that at the mention of Hope, the unfamiliar guy's eyes lit up just a bit, and he raised an eyebrow. "Hey, guys... who is this? I don't think I've met him yet."

            "Oh." Ray smiled. "Aaron, this is Kevin Nonaka, the lead singer for our band. Kevin, this is Aaron Kamiya-Takaishi, Hope's brother, my cousin, and the son of our hook-up in Stratus Records."

            Kevin smiled and extended his hand. "It's great to meet you. I've heard about you from Hope."

            Aaron's eyebrow raised just a bit further. "You know my sister?"

            "Yeah... I met her at the New Years performance. She's really cool."

            The older boy nodded and soon the group fell into an awkward silence. "So... you guys are here to see my mom? What for?"

            "Well, we're working on our album, and we wanted to talk to her and see if she liked one of our songs. Hope, too. Hey, maybe if you want to hear it, you can as well," Justin explained.

            "Yeah, maybe."

            "And..." Ray took over. "We were debating on whether or not to ask Hope if she wanted to record a duet with us."

            "You know what, she was talking about something like that the other day," Aaron told them. "Do you want to go see her? I just remembered–she's in the studio." With Aaron's arrival from New York, he and T.K. had made a makeshift studio for Hope to record in, even though the really good one was maybe only ten minutes away. Still, if she didn't want to leave, she could just warm up and record a few things at the house. Aaron led the way upstairs into the loft area, which had been cordoned off with pieces of soundproofing wall material. He opened the door and let them sit in the observation area.

            Kevin took a deep breath as he heard Hope singing. He had always thought her to be pretty, and realized that she had to have a good voice–otherwise she wouldn't be a popstar–but he didn't realize how amazingly beautiful her voice was. They had walked in while she was singing, and she didn't seem to notice them–her eyes were closed, as she really got into the song.

_I sit every night by my window, just wishing_

_and__ searching for one perfect star_

_Can anyone hear me?_

_Oh moon, if you're listening,_

_please__ send him right here to my arms_

_He must be out there, somewhere,_

_waiting__ for me_

_Tell me, just how long will it be?_

_Tell me, how long 'til I'm not just dreaming?_

_How long 'til somebody cares?_

_How long 'til I meet an angel_

_and__ give him my heart?_

_When can I start?_

_How long 'til I fall in love?_

Hope Takaishi had chosen to sing this song because she knew what it was like to feel and wonder when she would ever find someone to love. She was surrounded by it–her parents, her brother, the Santa Monica boardwalk–and yet she still didn't have anyone. She wished with all her heart that she could find someone... she was lonely. However, she still held out hope [hence her name] that she'd find what she was looking for–namely, someone in particular.

            Hope hadn't seen Kevin in quite a while–she supposed that they were both quite busy with recording and what not–but still, there was something she had seen in his eyes that let her hope, wish, think that maybe they had the slightest bit of a chance, if given more time and the opportunity to know each other. Until then... she kept singing her heart out, unaware that her inspiration was sitting there, watching her intently, having the same thoughts cross his mind.__

_I've always believed that my dreams would come true,_

_that__ one of these nights, he'd appear_

_He'd be here in my arms_

_I see it all so clearly, how it could be_

_I wish he was kissing me now..._

As Hope sang that last phrase, Kevin flashed back to the night of New Years...

*Flashback*

            _"This stuff's really... interesting," Hope commented, holding up the glass of champagne that had been given to her. "It tickles. And it tastes weird. Oh, well." She threw her head back and dumped the remaining contents of the glass into her mouth._

_            Kevin watched her in amusement, and when she put her head back up and recovered from the shock, she looked at him strangely. "What?"_

_            "You're just really cute, that's all."_

_            Hope tucked a strand of her hair back shyly and flushed a bit. "Thanks." She smiled. They stood there staring at each other for a moment when a slow song came on and Kevin asked, "May I have this dance?"_

_            Hope nodded and extended her hand, which Kevin took and lead her to the dance floor. Once there, they stood a bit awkwardly, one of Hope's hands on Kevin's shoulders with one of Kevin's arms around her waist, holding each other's free hands as was the "formal" way of dancing. Slowly, though, the music, the lighting, the mood... something was bringing them together, as they relaxed and Kevin pulled her closer. As Hope stared into his eyes, he saw just how beautiful she really was, and he wondered what it would be like holding her, caressing her face... but if he tried to do that, tried to pursue her... would it last? And as the music played on, he could feel himself wishing there was something he could do to stop himself from falling, drowning in this vision before him._

I could only wonder how touching you would make me feel

But if I take that chance right now, tomorrow will you want me still?

So I should keep this to myself and never let you know

I could fall in love with you

I could fall in love with you

And I know it's not right, 

and I guess I should try to do what I should do

but I could fall in love, fall in love with you

_            The intoxicating beat and the entrancing words couldn't stop Kevin from what he wanted, and right as the song was ending, he locked eyes with Hope once again, and leaned in closer, trying to close the space between them. She leaned up slowly, he leaned down slowly, but before they could get any closer, the mood was broken by the beat of a fast song. The trance was dissolved and Kevin flashed a toothy but awkward smile at his newfound friend. "Thanks for the dance."_

*Real time*__

_            Kevin sighed, remembering what could have been, not knowing that inside the studio, the object of his affection was dwelling on the exact same moment and using it as a catalyst for her emotions inside.___

_Tell me, how long 'til I'm not just dreaming?_

_How long 'til somebody cares?_

_How long 'til I meet my angel_

_and__ give him my heart?_

_When can I start?_

_How long 'til I fall in love? _

            As the song finished, the five guys clapped and Hope was startled out of her musically-inspired reverie. "Oh, hey guys," she acknowledged them, smiling. As she walked out of the glass room and scanned her company, her gaze fell upon the one she had been thinking of for quite a while, and she faltered. "Hey... uh... yeah, what are you guys doing here? It's... it's good to see you."

            "Good to see you too, Hope."

            Hope turned and smiled at the voice. "Hi, Ray-Ray!"

            The rest of the guys cracked up, save Aaron, while Kevin just smiled amusedly.

            "Ray-Ray?" Steve asked, managing to hold in his laughter before another burst of laughs came from him, one that he tried in vain to stifle.

            Ray sat there, glaring at his cousin, while Hope grinned wickedly. "I see your bandmates like my nickname for you."

            "Well... you _did make it up while you were drunk."_

            Hope's eyes became downcast. "Don't remind me of that." She glanced cautiously at her brother, knowing that was a touchy subject for him. Kevin, therefore, squirmed in his seat.

            "Anyway," Justin interjected, getting over his own fit of laughter, "we came today to visit with your mom and ask her to review one of our new songs, and..."

            "And?" Hope chided.

            "And, we wanted to know if... if you wanted to record a duet with us," Kevin added, slowly.

            Hope's eyes widened. "Are you serious! I would love to!" She rushed to embrace her cousin, followed by subsequent hugs to the rest of the group. When she reached Kevin, she hesitated for a moment, and then threw herself into his embrace. Kevin was shocked at first, but then marveled at how well she fit in his arms, and held her just a little longer than he should have. When she pulled away, she asked the rest of them, "So... when do we start?"

            Ray laughed. "You're just all wired up to go, aren't you?"

            Hope nodded her head up and down vigorously. Ray grinned. "You're so cute, Hope. We'll work the details up first, though, okay? Like, what song to sing, and recording schedules, and what not. We'll let you know when we've got it, though we're planning it sometime within the next two months."

            "Okay. And as for my mom, well... she got delayed for a while, so she won't be here until another three weeks. You can send her a recording of your song, though, if you want."

            Justin nodded. "Okay."

            Now that the band was situated in Southern California, just like Aaron and Hope, they hung out a lot. Hope didn't mind being the only girl with five guys around (two of them were related to her, anyway); in fact, it was kind of fun. One day they were sitting around in the living room of the condo, just lounging. This time, Kendall was joining them and Aaron was absentmindedly playing with her hair as they sat around, trying to think of something to do.

            "Movie?" Justin suggested.

            A chorus of negative answers met his suggestion, with Kendall stating bluntly, "There aren't any good movies out anyway. And we're all broke." She looked hopefully at her boyfriend.

            "Sorry, hon, no money here either," Aaron answered her.

            "What about the beach?" Kendall tried.

            Hope shook her head. "We've been there three times in the past week, and... it's not beach weather."

            "Oh yeah." It was cold outside.

            "Umm... how about food?" Ray suggested.

            Everyone laughed. "What is it with you and food?"

            "Well, I'm bored! And when I have nothing better to do, I eat, okay?" His protest fell on deaf ears–they were all laughing too much. And then Kevin caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, I know–the pier! Let's go to the pier!"

            "Yeah!" they all yelled, and rushed to get their things in order so that they could leave.

            The Santa Monica Pier, a short walk from the Takaishi residence, was a small amusement park in itself. This was the only pier of its kind in Southern California, and it was always fun to walk along a carnival-style midway with the ocean surrounding you on all sides.

            Aaron and Kendall led the way, hand in hand, followed by the three guys, while Hope hung back, and Kevin hung with her. "So, how have you been?"

            Hope nodded. "I've been good." She smiled her dazzling smile at Kevin. He loved that smile—it made her even more beautiful, if that was possible.

            "Any stalker sightings yet?" Kevin joked. With Hope's fame growing, more people were starting to flock to her house and follow her around, but mostly they just stared at her on the street. In fact, as they were walking, Hope could feel eyes on her. "Hey, you know what I was thinking?"

            "Yeah?" Kevin answered.

            "Well, since there are all these guys who are trying to ask me out and/or follow me, I was thinking that I should have a boyfriend image, even though I really don't have one. You want to pretend to be my guy to ward all these other guys off?"

            Kevin started. He didn't want to just pretend, he wanted the real thing. What he didn't know was that Hope wanted it as well… but she wasn't feeling especially brave enough to admit it. She did, however, need what she was asking for, and she figured that by pretending, something could happen soon enough.

            "You know, if you don't feel comfortable with this, that's okay too, I can always ask Justin or Steve," Hope said quickly, taking his silence as a refusal.

            "No, no… that's okay. I'll do it." Kevin agreed. 

            Hope smiled. "Thanks, Kev. You're awesome." She kissed him on the cheek as a sign of gratitude. 

            "So, now that I'm your 'boyfriend,' where do you want me to take you?" Kevin asked cheekily, as he offered his arm to her and she linked hers with his, smiling. "I don't know… wait… I do know." Hope grinned again. "Win me a prize, you know, one of those stuffed animal things."

            Kevin laughed. "Yes, I know what you mean. And I will."

            "Thanks." Soon, they had walked onto the wooden planks that made up the pier, and Kevin turned to Hope and asked, "So, which one do you want?" They were walking along the "midway" section, with booth-type games that would win someone a prize. Hope looked around, carefully considering her options, and then said, "That one," pointing to a large stuffed Spongebob Squarepants. Kevin laughed. "Okay, I'll try my best." He pulled a dollar out and led her to one of the booths—it was a game in which you squirted water at a target to make your horse run faster. Luckily, a race was just about to begin, and he took a seat at number seventeen—Hope had insisted on that, as it was her lucky number, not knowing it was also Kevin's favorite as well. 

            Hope watched as Kevin began to hit the target with the spray, smiling amusedly at the cute expression that he got when he was concentrating really hard. She also watched in anticipation as horse number seventeen was neck in neck with horse number twenty-nine. Kevin's resolve became more and more apparent, and it was intense, but alas, the little girl at seat twenty-nine squealed happily as the large Spongebob was awarded to her. Kevin turned to Hope, a bit dejected. "Sorry."

            Hope smiled. "That's okay. You have plenty more chances."

            Kevin returned her smile, and led her away from the games towards the ride part of the pier. "Still, though, you want one. And I promise I'll get you one before we leave."

            "You don't have to," Hope said.

            Kevin stopped walking and looked her deeply in the eyes, so deeply that she felt an involuntary shudder go through her. "But I want to. It makes you happy. Besides, I have to prove my masculinity after being beaten by a little girl." And with that, he resumed walking, while subtly finding her hand and interlacing his fingers with hers. Hope, who had been laughing at his last comment, felt her heart suddenly skip a few beats—was this really happening to her? She was so excited. She couldn't have asked for better—Kevin was only supposed to be pretending to be her boyfriend, but… somehow Hope felt that he wasn't really just pretending.

            As they wandered about, they found themselves in front of the rollercoaster, and Kevin grinned at her. "Wanna go on?"

            "You're on," Hope countered, always ready for a challenge. She wasn't too fond of rollercoasters, although many of her friends had told her they were quite fun, and that this one especially wasn't too bad compared to some of the others around. "Let's go." So they fell in line, every step taken bringing more and more anxiety and anticipation to Hope. She was sure Kevin could feel her jitters, but he never called her on it. Right as they were about to board—they were a few people away from the attendant asking "how many in your party?"—they heard a familiar voice call out, "Kevin! Hope!"

            They turned and found Aaron and Kendall getting off the ride. "Hey, guys!" Kendall said brightly. "Hope, you're actually going on this thing?"

            Hope nodded slightly and gripped Kevin's hand a little tighter. "Yeah."

            "Well, good for you." Kendall smiled and took her boyfriend's hand, but not before noticing that her boyfriend's sister and Kevin were holding hands. She winked at Hope, being quite the crafty girl, and said, "We'll be at the arcade, okay? So come meet us later." And she dragged Aaron off before he got the chance to notice exactly what was going on. Hope smiled and shook her head at her best friend, momentarily forgetting the built up tension that had accumulated while waiting.

            A few steps more, and they were boarding the ride. Hope took deep, calming breaths before pulling the restraint down to protect her. Kevin had chosen to sit in the front, and she didn't protest, but Kevin could still feel her anxiety. "Are you sure you're okay, Hope?"

            She smiled a little too brightly and said, "Yeah, I'm fine!" Kevin just looked at her sympathetically and rubbed her hand. "I'm sorry… you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

            "Are you kidding? Look, the ride's already starting." Her heart pounded in her chest, though, as the car rose higher and higher… and then it went super fast, going into a really fast spin that made Hope a bit dizzy and made her blonde hair fly out—but she was laughing, screaming, having the time of her life. It gave her such a thrill, kind of like an adrenaline rush, but it was so fun! By the time the rollercoaster went around a second time, she was much more relaxed and smiling. "Hey, that was fun!" Hope exclaimed as they got off the ride. "Let's do it again!"

            Kevin laughed. "See, I told you it was fun. You weren't scared, were you?"

            "Of course not!"

            Kevin grinned. "Silly girl." He kissed her on the cheek as they walked toward the arcade, and she blushed. Once there, they met Kendall and Aaron—actually, they met just Kendall, as Aaron was engrossed in some video game. Kevin exclaimed, "Cool!" and went to join him, leaving the girls time for some girl talk.

            "So yeah, Hope, what's up with you and Kevin?" Kendall asked slyly. Hope blushed again but retorted, just as slyly, "What makes you think there's anything up?"

            "Oh, come on, it's so obvious! You guys are hanging out together, they way you look at each other… I mean, you were even holding hands!"

            "You saw that?"

            "Of course I did! Why do you think I made Aaron walk so fast? I didn't want the poor guy to be creamed by your big brother," Kendall answered matter-of-factly. Hope laughed. "Kendall, you're awesome."

            "So, what's going on with you two? I know you like him," she chided.

            "That's cause I told you that," Hope stated. 

            "So? You can still tell."

            "Well… I kind of asked him out," Hope began.

            "Kind of? Or you did?"

            "I… kind of. He asked me how my 'stalker situation' was and I told him I needed a boyfriend figure so that guys would stay off my back, and thankfully, he said yes, and… he really is acting like my boyfriend now," Hope said, not being able to fight the smile that was forming on her face. "I really think something's there."

            Kendall smiled at her best friend. "Hope, I'm so happy for you, you totally deserve it. And, if you get really lucky, maybe we'll be family!" Hope laughed. Kevin, coincidentally, was the brother of Kendall's dad's girlfriend, Natalie—they had discovered this not too long ago and it was just really weird. "You know, if my dad and Natalie get married, and then you and Kevin got married, then you'd be my aunt. That's weird!"

            "Kendall, honey, I don't think Kevin and I are gonna get married anytime soon," Hope replied soothingly, patting Kendall's shoulder. 

            "Hey, you never know," Kendall shrugged. "So, you think you guys have a future? Aww, that's so sweet. It's about time, too. I know how lonely you are, and I feel especially bad because I'm always with your brother."

            Hope smiled. "Don't worry about it. I know you guys love each other, and I'm happy that you two are together. So maybe I'm lonely sometimes, but I'm still alive, and I'm still happy, right?"

            "Of course you are, 'cause you're Hope."

            "I guess." The two friends laughed as the guys walked back over to them. "So, did you have fun?" Kendall asked.

            "Yeah, there was this one really hard boss and Kevin and I kept punching him, he was slamming the button, weren't you, Kev?" Aaron answered enthusiastically.

            Kevin nodded in response. "Yeah, it was awesome. But we have no more money. Still, though…" Having an older sister, Kevin knew how uninterested girls were in video games, so he kept his comments to a minimum as he saw the all-too-familiar glaze over of the girls' eyes as Aaron continued. He saw Kevin's pensive gaze and said, "Hey, she goes out with me—she's gotta deal with some of it. She knows that."

            "Whatever you say, Aaron."

            Hope snorted and said, "That doesn't mean the rest of us have to put up with it."

            Aaron gave his sister a death glare and Hope casually asked Kevin, "So, shall we go now? You still owe me a stuffed animal."

            "That I do. Later, guys," Kevin called to their friends.

            "So… what shall I try now?" he wondered, facing the midway games.

            Hope's gaze wandered, until she saw what she was looking for. "That one." She pulled Kevin over to a wall filled with balloons. "Can you do it?"

            "I will, for you." Kevin plunked down a dollar and was given four darts. He picked up the first one and aimed, hitting a space between two balloons. Not discouraged, he picked up the second one and hit a yellow balloon. His goal was to hit a bright red balloon right in the center. The yellow balloon was about four balloons off. Kevin drew in a deep breath, and threw the third dart, loudly popping a green balloon next to the red one. Smiling, he picked up the last one, then did totally unexpected. He turned around so he wasn't looking, threw the dart over his shoulder, and grinned as Hope squealed excitedly just as a loud pop was heard. He turned to see the pieces of the red balloon floating to the ground.

            "Good job, sir!" the attendant praised. "What would you like? Every prize is at your disposal."

            "Whatever she wants, please," Kevin requested, as Hope giddily picked out a large stuffed crocodile. She hugged it lovingly. "Thank you, Kevin."

            "An alligator?" he asked, incredulously. "I thought you wanted Spongebob."

            "Well, women are allowed to change their minds, right?" Hope rationalized.

            "I guess. I just hope you haven't changed your mind about me," he confessed.

            "Actually, I have," Hope said, and Kevin stopped walking. "What?"

            "I've changed my mind about you—you're way better than I thought you were when I first met you," Hope told him. "Don't worry, it's a good thing."

            "Good." Hope wasn't really watching where they were walking, but Kevin was—he was leading them to the Ferris wheel. He had a plan. 

            "So, what are you gonna name him?" Kevin inquired.

            Hope appeared thoughtful. "I don't know. Wait. I know—Bob."

            Kevin laughed. "Okay." She was so amazing, he marveled, like a true ray of light. His mind was filled with good thoughts of her until they got to the Ferris wheel. The sun, which had broken through when they arrived, was just beginning to set, a perfect ending to a perfect day. "You wanna go on?"

            "Sure, why not? Can Bob come?"

            "As long as you don't lose him," Kevin agreed.

            Hope hugged Bob tight. "Don't worry, I won't lose him. Besides, he's a little scared of heights, so he'll hang on tight."

            Kevin smiled and shook his head. "What?" Hope protested.

            "You're so cute." This made Hope blush again.

            As the two of them got into the seat, as she promised, Hope held on to her new friend tightly. Kevin grasped her free hand as the seat began to rise up into the air, and they sat in silence, each thinking of their current situation, when Kevin broke the silence. "Hope, what were you thinking when you asked me to pretend to be your boyfriend?"

            Hope was quiet for a few moments before she spoke, reflecting while gazing at the ocean she loved. "I needed someone to ward off all the fans—boys—that are quite stalkerlike. So I asked you. I asked you because we've had experiences together, albeit not all good ones, but we've got 'em. And I've liked you since the moment I met you." Hope tried to calm herself before the elaboration she was about to give. "You know, your eyes are beautiful. They drew me to you, that first moment you poked your head into my trailer on New Year's Eve. Your heart is beautiful as well—you're just a cool guy. And your voice is beautiful. I'm so privileged to be able to sing with you."

            Kevin tried to suppress the smile that was growing, but he only partially succeeded. "Hope, all of that, none of it compares to you. You're more beautiful than anything. Your face, your outlook on life, your voice, you're like a ray of light… a ray of light for my life." Just then, the Ferris wheel began to slow to a stop, holding its position on the top of the turn. "Hope, when I told you that I'd agree to pretend to be your boyfriend… I didn't want to just pretend." And before she could reply, he put a finger underneath her chin and pressed his lips softly to hers.

            The jerking of the ride in the opposite direction broke them reluctantly out of their reverie, and Hope leaned her head on Kevin's shoulder. "So, can I stop pretending now?" Kevin asked. Hope nodded, her eyes sparkling. They sat there a little longer, enjoying the ride and each other, until Kevin began to sing to her softly.

_I was counting down the minutes_

_I was wishing on a star_

_I was praying for a sign, and trying to beat the odds_

_I was dreaming of you,_

_long__ before I saw your face,_

_that__ you were waiting for that day_

_Then you reached through the hurricane when you,_

_baby__, you called my name_

_You broke through the storm_

_and__ you turned back the night_

_Baby, you are the fire burning the __midnight__ sky_

_And your love keeps taking me higher_

_Just when all hope was gone, where the hero belongs…_

_…there you were_

            "That's beautiful," Hope breathed, looking up smiling softly at her new, real boyfriend.

            Kevin blushed. "What would you say if I told you I wrote that?"

            Hope sat up and looked directly at him. "Did you really?"

            Kevin nodded. "And what would you say if I told you that not only is it a duet—" Hope gasped and shrieked excitedly when he said that, "but that I wrote it thinking of you… and me?"

            "I would tell you that that's totally awesome."

            "Would you like to sing it with me?"

            "Of course." Hope kissed his cheek softly. "I'd be honored."

            At this, Kevin, grinning like crazy, helped her out of the seat—for the Ferris wheel had stopped—and lead the way back towards the entrance of the pier when his cell phone rang. "Hold on."

            "Hello?" 

            "_Hey, Kevin, it's Ray. Listen, can you meet us at the entrance in like, ten minutes?_"

            "Yeah—Hope and I are making our way there right now, why?"

            "_Tell her that her mom's on her way into LAX in about an hour."_

_            Kevin's eyebrows shot up. "Really? I thought she wasn't supposed to come in for another week." He glanced over at Hope, who had caught on and now was jumping up and down merrily at the thought of Kari finally being with them._

            "_Yeah, but I guess something worked out, 'cause Uncle T.K. just called Aaron and told him to gather us all so we can meet her there."_

_            "Okay, we'll be there soon," Kevin complied and hung up. He turned to Hope. "You're excited."_

            "Kevin," she said, her tone of voice as if she was talking to a small child, "don't you remember the first time we met?"

            "Of course…" Kevin replied, not knowing where she was headed.

            "Remember what I told you about my parents?"

            He blinked. "You said that your dad was here and your mom was in New York."

            "And…"

            "And… that it was a Parent Trap kind of thing, and that they were getting remarried," Kevin stated, trying to remember that night. Some of it stood out, but other parts of it were very blurry.

            Hope sighed. "Well, it _was a long time ago. I told you that we were trying to get her back here so that they could get married."_

            "Oh. Oh! So this means they can get married now?"

            "Yeah!"

            "Oh, Hope, that's wonderful news." Kevin enveloped her in a hug and she smiled. "Now you know why I'm so excited?"

            Kevin nodded. "Yeah. Now, let's go get your mom."

~*~

_Must have broke into heaven just to roll back the clouds_

_Were you on a mission; were you seeking me out?_

_Was I that one in a million, was I that one sacred kiss,_

_that__ you couldn't chance, you just couldn't miss?_

_And you, babe, you whispered through the silent tears,_

_when__ you, you swept away all my fears_

            Kevin smiled as he watched his girl sing. His girl. Shortly after Hope's mother, Kari, had arrived in Los Angeles, they had brought her home and the band serenaded her with the song that they had wanted to show her earlier. Delighted, Kari thought it was good, and when they told her of the duet plans, she got even more excited and wanted to hear the recording as soon as she could. So he played it out on the piano, as Hope marveled at his musical ability, and taught it to her. Having a great ear, she picked it up pretty quickly, and now he was watching her sing. Instead of having her sing, and then him sing, or vice versa, they decided they were going to record it together. So now, he was watching her sing, still marveling at the fact that she was his… and then he pitched in with his own vocals to harmonize with hers.

_You broke through the storm,_

_and__ you turned back the night_

_Baby, you are the fire burning the __midnight__ sky_

_And your love keeps taking me higher_

_Just when all hope was gone, where the hero belongs_

            They took turns letting each other sing out, then joined up together to sing the most dramatic part of the song.

_There you were, babe_

_Standing in the middle of nowhere_

_with__ your arms wide open_

_And you, you were the reason when there was no reason in my life_

_You're the reason in my life_

            Finally, before the song was over, the rest of the band pitched in for the most beautiful part of the song—at least, in Kevin's opinion. It so reminded him of Hope, and as the band was singing the chant-like melody, Hope and Kevin caught each other's eye and smiled, knowing that this song was special, and that it embodied all that they felt for each other.

            And watching from a small observation area, Kari smiled fondly—they reminded her so much of herself and T.K. when they were younger, She had a feeling this was going to last.

_Like the light in the eye of the storm,_

_Telling me not to cry anymore_

_When I watched my whole world fall apart,_

_Shining through like an angel from afar_

_You broke through the storm,_

_and__ you turned back the night_

_Baby, you are the fire burning the __midnight__ sky_

_And your love keeps taking me higher_

_Just when all hope was gone, where the hero belongs…_

_…there you were_

Aww, it's done. Review! Review! My next goal: a 4 digit number! I don't think that'll come anytime soon. 200 would be nice, though. =D


	15. Chapter Eleven: Ambiguity

AN: Hello again! Yes, I am alive. And you will be seeing more of me on a regular basis.

If you didn't read my author's note before, on November 7, this story will have been published for a year. I'm thisclose to finishing the story (one more chapter of the actual book, another interlude, and the epilogue), so I figured, I will finish it by that date. That means, you get updates once a week. Hopefully. It's really hard balancing this with homework and church, but I'll manage. I have a very good idea for yet another sequel, making it a trilogy, but the sequel will only be a one-shot. I also have other plans for it, but you'll see if it gets there.

Now, if you don't know what ambiguity means, it means that a subject is not just black, or not just white—there are lots of gray areas. I titled this chapter this way because it's supposed to show the ups and downs of being married so young. This is where things start to turn… if you're perceptive, you'll pick it up (I hope).

There was supposed to be more of the main plot for this chapter, but my limit was 10 pages and it wouldn't have fit in 10, so I'll add it to the next one, to make that one long enough, too. =D

Oh yeah, answering reviews…

_Azn_ Angel Hikari: _I like video games too! That's why it's funny. (Or supposed to be, anyway. =|)_

_Uncle Remus: No, I am not a twin. But I happen to be mildly obsessed with them. Hence the three sets of twins (I didn't even realize that!)._

_Savoan_ Locc:_ Umm… I didn't quite get your review. I am also a Taiora supporter too… but yeah. Well I'm glad you like my fic even if you don't like Jyoumi. Sorry. If it really bothers you, don't read._

Hope you enjoy! Remember, they're not mine, except for the kids. And Michael (you'll see who he is later).

Chapter 12 coming soon!

Reviews welcomed! I love reviews! =D

*

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1One Light, One Hope

Chapter Eleven: Ambiguity

            "Welcome to your new home."

            Kari giggled as I ushered her and Aaron into our new, small apartment. Aaron gurgled happily at the sight of his parents' happiness. Baby Aaron was now eight months old, and, enjoying newfound success with the publishing of my first novel, I had found my family an apartment not far from Mimi and Joe's place. I breathed in the scent of the new apartment, trying to get a feel for it, and then tried not to choke. It wasn't the biggest place, that's for sure, but I thought it could be a little nicer, and a little cleaner.

            "Light, we have to do some major cleaning this weekend." 

            Kari half-smiled. "Yes, it does look like it needs a bit of work." She looked at me. "Did you bring up the crib?"

            "Yeah." I set down the portable crib I had carried up and set it up so that Kari could put Aaron down. "Here you go, big guy." I took our son from Kari and placed him in the crib, along with a few toys. He grinned as he found one of his favorites and promptly began throwing it out of the crib. 

            "Aaron, you're not supposed to do that," Kari said scoldingly, taking the toy and putting it back in the crib. "You know that."

            He looked carefully at his mother, and then threw the toy again, only this time at the other side of the crib. It bounced back and nearly missed hitting him. Aaron got a look of surprise on his baby face, and then resorted to peacefully playing with the rest of his toys. Kari shook her head. "Aaron, don't hurt yourself, okay?"

            This whole time, I had been watching them from the doorframe, and I smiled slightly, at the sight of my wife and my son. I still couldn't believe that I was this lucky. But I shook myself out of my reverie as Kari turned to look at me. "Hon, we have to get all our stuff in here."

            I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm on it."

            Later, thanks to the help of Mimi and Joe (well… actually, more like just Joe), we had gotten all of our things up and at least into the apartment. I wiped my brow with the back of my hand and said, "Thanks, guys, for all your help."

            "Of course. We know how hard it is to start over. You'll do okay."

            Kari smiled half-heartedly. "I'm not sure about that," she said, slowly.

            Mimi patted her on the back. "Well, I am."

            "Thanks for your vote of confidence," I told them, sincerely. It really meant a lot that they had a lot of faith in us.

            "You guys had the guts to leave and start over in a whole new place, on your own, with a kid to boot. With that kind of perseverance, there's no doubt you two will make it through the rest." Joe smiled kindly. "And besides, we'll be here too."

            "That is a comforting thought." I smiled at them. 

            "Just remember, if you need any help, let us know, okay?"

            "Okay." 

            The weeks and months passed. It was interesting trying to get settled into married life and life in the States. Kari was still going to college, trying to be a teacher. Somehow, I had gotten that novel published, which resulted in us moving, and was working on another one, and going to class part-time, while taking care of Aaron. He was a wonderful baby. Sure, he had his temper tantrums sometimes, but I didn't mind those too much. Life wasn't easy. Sometimes I found myself wondering what I had gotten into so early in life, but then I berated myself when I thought of my beautiful wife, whom I had loved since I was, what, thirteen, and our little boy.

            One particularly straining night, I was sitting at the computer, trying to finish a brutal mid-term paper, to no obvious avail. I rubbed my tired face as I stared at the computer screen. The publishing company, somehow, wanted another manuscript soon. I wasn't suffering from writer's block; it was just the fact that I had so many other things that I had to take care of, like classes, home, trying to find a job, etc. (AN: TK's lucky. I've had writer's block for a while. =þ) I looked sadly over at the dark room that held my wife. I felt really bad that we hadn't seen each other, _really seen each other in a while. She had mentioned something she wanted to tell me, but I had being rushing to finish something and I had asked her if she could tell me later, when I could really concentrate on what she was saying._

            Now, looking up at the silent room, I sighed. I should have been in there, sleeping next to my wife, instead of letting her go to sleep in an empty, cold bed. Kari always said she understood, however; never complaining, just accepting resignedly, which made me feel so much worse. _T.K., you knew what you were getting yourself into, I scolded myself slightly, as I glanced wearily at my computer screen again. Sighing, I realized the things that I was writing right now weren't coherent enough to pass off even as BS, so I began to shut off the computer. As I waited for it to shut down, I heard Aaron start to cry. I rushed, quietly, so as not to wake Kari up, to his room, to find him trying to pull himself up using the sides of his crib. I smiled. "Need a little help there, bud?" At the sound of my voice, he looked up, and he stopped wailing, although he still had a sad look in his big blue eyes. He put his arms out and I picked him up. "What's up, big guy? Did you have a bad dream? It's okay. Daddy's here now." I held him close to me as I rocked him, soothing him back to sleep. As I held him, I breathed in his scent, that scent that all babies have, and was just overcome with all the love that I had ever felt for Aaron. I just held him there as he made those baby noises that no one really understands, and after a long while, I looked down at him. He was wide awake now, and he wanted to play. "You're a night owl like your dad, huh? Come on, you can hang out with me." I set him down on the floor, where we had set a little track for him to crawl from his room to the outer part of the apartment, so he wouldn't crawl on dirty wood floors. He started moving, pretty fast, and I smiled amusedly as I followed him to the living room, where he stopped at his favorite toy—a little book that we got him that read certain things when he touched them. Aaron was very fond of that book. He liked to scribble in it a lot, too, now that I'm remembering._

            But anyway, I let him play while I rebooted the computer and tried to finish off my essay. Thankfully, I had gotten a bit of energy, so I tried to form some decent sentences as I watched my son. I managed to pull together some coherent points and sighed happily as I saved it and turned off the computer. I turned to collect Aaron and put him to sleep—and gasped.

            He had managed to pull himself up to standing, using the couch. That didn't surprise me—he'd been doing that for a while. What did surprise me was that he was using the couch as a support as he unsteadily walked the length of the couch. "Wow, Aaron, you're getting there," I urged him on, and he looked at me, not too confident in what he was doing. "Don't worry, big guy, this is only the first time you've done this. You need to practice more."

            Aaron just continued to hold on for dear life as he discovered he could actually walk, and I shook my head and smiled. I watched him for a bit longer and then said, "Okay, big guy, time to go to sleep. Daddy's tired."

            He showed his agreement with a huge yawn, but didn't want to let go of the couch. "Hey, you want to show Mommy what you can do? Come on, let's go show her." I took his hand and he tentatively started taking baby steps, but as he realized he could do it, he went a little faster. "That's it. Over here, now…" I guided him with my hand to Kari's and my room. He hesitated, as the room was dark, but I whispered, "It's okay. Mommy's just sleeping."

            Aaron gripped the bed as he had the couch, and padded over to the other side of the room, the side Kari was on. Kari, who was always a light sleeper, felt the small movements and began to stir. "T.K.?" she asked.

            "I'm right here." I could see her sleepily turn to the sound of my voice, which was at the door. "You're still up?"

            "Yeah."

            "I felt something…" She looked around to try and find the source of her awakening, when she heard Aaron's signature gurgles. "What…" She looked down to see her son smiling at her. Her eyes lit up. "Wow! How did you get here, little man?"

            "He walked," I said, matter of factly.

            "He did what?" Kari repeated, her eyes wide. She turned on the small bedside light to get a better view, and then looked down at Aaron and lifted him up onto the bed. "Is Daddy lying? Or did you really walk here?"

"He did walk here. But he was holding my hand."

"Oh." She sounded a little irritated that I woke her up just for that, but I knew she was tired, and was around _that time_ of the month. "I'm sorry we woke you, Light, but I knew you'd want to see it first hand and would kill me if you didn't see it."

Kari smiled. "Yeah, you know me too well. What is Aaron doing out of bed this late anyway?"

I yawned hugely again. "He started crying, and I went to go see what was up, and I tried putting him to sleep, but he didn't want to sleep, so I let him play a little while I finished my paper."

"So you're done then?" Kari asked hopefully.

"Yup. I'm just gonna go put this little guy to bed and I'll be back soon." I took Aaron from her, but not before she kissed her little boy good night. I kissed her forehead and whispered, "I'll be here soon, I promise," and carried Aaron back to his room, as he was tired again and didn't want to walk anymore. Too much adventure for one day, I guess.

After I was sure Aaron was nodding off, I went back to Kari's and my shared room and got into bed, wrapping my arms around her tightly. "Sorry it took me so long."

"That's okay. Feeling this is worth waiting forever." She turned and kissed me. "I love you."

"I love you more, Light."

The next day, I woke up to wonderful smells in the kitchen. I stirred and found the bed empty. Rubbing my eyes, I took a glance at the clock—ten-fifteen in the morning. Luckily, I had no classes today, but it was a bit late for me. And why was Kari still here this late?

I padded my way into the kitchen and found Kari cleaning up the last of the dishes. "Hi, love," she greeted me. "Good morning."

"Hey yourself, Light." I kissed her on the cheek and looked at the meal, however small, she prepared. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Class got canceled until two," she explained. "So I decided to make you something. I know how you can get when you've stayed up really late."

I laughed. Every time I stayed up late, I happened to get really hungry. Kari set a plate of food in front of me. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Kari." I stood up and gave her a hug. She hugged me back, and then pulled away so she could look at me. "What was that for?"

"What, can't a husband hug his wife once in a while?"

Kari shook her head. "T.K., you are impossible."

"Just kidding." I kissed her forehead lightly. "I just wanted to say thank you and remind you that I love you."

"T.K., you are too good to me." She smiled and then motioned to the food. "Come on, eat up. I have to leave for class pretty soon."

"How soon?" I asked, between mouthfuls of food.

"Ew, close your mouth when you do that," she chided me, and I grinned sheepishly. Less than a year of marriage and she was already nagging me. "And to answer your question, in about…" she glanced over at the clock in our kitchen, which now read ten twenty-seven, "thirty minutes."

I nodded. "Okay. Wait—that's fifteen minutes before you usually leave. Why so early?"

"That has to do with what I wanted to tell you," Kari said, mysteriously.

"Well, what is it you wanted to tell me?" I asked.

"I thought you didn't want to know because you didn't seem interested yesterday," she retorted.

I raised an eyebrow. "You have no faith in me," I told her, shaking my head. "The only reason why I was saying that is because I didn't want you telling me without me really concentrating on what you were saying."

"Oh." She looked relieved, and then, as an afterthought, she said, "I'm sorry."

"That's okay," I said. "Don't worry about it. I just want to know what you wanted to tell me."

"Oh yeah!" Her eyes lit up and got that familiar sparkle. "I have a job!"

"What?!?" I exclaimed, dropping my fork in the process. "Why… why didn't you tell me?" Kari looked at me pointedly and I laughed. "Oh. Right. But… what happened?"

"Well…" Kari began. "I was waiting for the subway home last night, right? And there was this band playing in the station. They were really good—not really the kind of music I'd listen to, but they were only a few years younger than us, and sounded really great. So I told them, 'You should try and get a record deal or something.' And the lead singer was like, 'Really? You think we're that good?' And I was like, 'Yeah! I could never do something like that. How long have you guys been playing together?'

            "So they go on to tell me that they've been playing together since they were like, thirteen. I'm like, 'How did you guys play that good at thirteen?' And they're like, 'Actually, we weren't. It took a long time for us to get to where we are now—we just started playing in public a few months ago.' And by now there's a crowd surrounding them, waiting for another set. But my train is about to leave, so I tell them, 'Good luck and I meant what I said—you should get a record deal,' and I leave."

            "And…" I asked, wondering what this had to do with her job.

            "So I get on the train, and the guy who is sitting next to me, coincidentally, happens to be making his own new record company. And he saw the exchange between myself and the band, and he needed people to find new talent so he could start signing artists to his label, and he was like, 'You know that band you were talking to? They sounded pretty good. I also heard you tell them they should have a record deal. Would you like to give it to them?' I'm like, 'What the heck are you talking about?'

            "Right then and there, he offers me a job as a talent scout. I was like, 'So I get paid for sitting and listening to music all day?' The guy—his name is Michael, by the way—nods, telling me he's just starting out and he needs people desperately. So of course, since Kari needs money, I said yes."

            "Kari, that's awesome." By this time, I had finished my food. "So, when do you start?"

            "Well, first of all, I have to get the name and a CD from that band, today—that's why I'm leaving early—and then I get to send it to him. I told him that since I'm in the middle of my last college quarter that I couldn't come in to the office right away, but I said that during the summer I'd be able to come into the office, and next year I could arrange my schedule so that I could go in two ore three times a week," Kari reasoned.

            I nodded. "I know you said you wanted me to go to school full time, but I want to do my part here, too. We can't live off of royalties forever, unless you write another novel… and even then, it's not enough," Kari continued.

            I sighed. "I know it's hard, Kar, and I'm trying."

            Kari came back from the other side of the table and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "I know, love. This will be good for us—we won't have to struggle too much anymore."

            Nodding absently, I sighed. "Yeah." Kari rested her head on mine and we just sat there, for a few moments, in a reflective silence, only to be broken by Aaron's cries. I smiled. "You want to get him or should I?"

            Kari looked at the clock. "I should get ready to go."

            "Okay, then I'll get him."

            "Wait." I stopped. "Let me," Kari asked, as an afterthought, I guess. "I won't get to see him any more today, and I just wanted to give my little man a big hug and kiss from his mommy before I leave."

            I smiled. "You just love that boy, don't you?"

            Kari smirked. "Of course! I'm his mom."

            Later, I watched Kari leave, conflicting emotions in my heart. I didn't want Kari to have to work—chivalry or something, I guess—but at the same time, I was proud of her. And then, I felt bad, because I had nothing to give to her in congratulations.

            After cleaning up the table and changing and feeding Aaron, I let him play a bit. "Hey, buddy. Your mommy has school today. And she got a new job, isn't that exciting?" Aaron looked up and happily gurgled his response. "What should we do for her?" I asked him, half expecting a response.

            Before I could interpret any of his many gurgles to mean anything significant, the phone rang. "Takaishi residence, T.K. speaking," I said into the phone.

            "T.K., you sound so old when you do that," a familiar male voice groaned in reply.

            I laughed. "Hey Tai! What's up?"

            "All's good over here. How about my favorite brother-in-law and nephew?"

            Rolling my eyes, I retorted, "I'm your only brother-in-law and Aaron's your only nephew."

            "Oh yeah." He laughed. "Anyway, T.K., I was calling to ask you something."

            "Yeah, what is it?"

            "Well, um… Sora and I are flying over there in about a week."

            "Really? That's awesome! Do you want to stay with us?"

            "Oh, no, I wouldn't want to impose on you guys… the reason why we're flying over there is because I applied for a job as an ambassador to the Digital World. It's kind of a long story, but Izzy and Cody helped me out with it. They want to interview me, but they said I had to go over there. It may take a few weeks, even a few months, so I don't want to impose on you guys for that long. I'm sure we can find somewhere else to stay."

            "Nonsense. If you have to, you can split it even between Mimi and Joe and us, but we're not letting you stay in a hotel for a month," I said firmly.

            "Are you sure? What about the baby and everything?" Tai asked, sounding very… unsure.

            "Hey, he'll have his uncle and auntie here to keep him company. Tai, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. If you get it, you'll be the first ever ambassador to the Digital World! Come on, that's something all of us have waited to see for a very long time."

Tai sighed. "Okay. But only if you're sure it's okay."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well…  we're not sure yet… but we're thinking Sora might be… well, Aaron might have a little cousin soon."

"Really." I raised an eyebrow.

            "Yeah. It's not confirmed yet, but we're almost positive." I could hear the hint of excitement in his voice. "Are you still sure you want us to stay with you?"

            "Of course, now more than ever! Remember, Kari did have a child before, she'll know how to take care of Sora."

            "Thanks, T.K. I'm glad I can count on you."

            "Isn't that what family's for?" I asked. "So when are you guys coming?"

            "My interview is in four days, so we're gonna leave probably tomorrow… in about two days, we'll be there."

            "Okay, I'll tell Kari. I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

            "Can I talk to her?" Tai requested.

            "Actually… she's at school right now. She won't be home until late."

            "Oh… okay. Well, I guess I'll just call later, or we can talk when I get there. I have to go now, T.K. … Sora's bugging me to pick a nice suit for my interview. And to cut my hair. So, I'll call you or e-mail you with the flight times, and then we'll take it from there."

            "Okay. I'll talk to you later, Tai, okay?"

            "Okay. And thanks again, T.K."

            "No problem. Bye now." I hung up the phone. "Hey buddy, your Uncle Tai and Auntie Sora are coming to visit us. We're gonna have some fun, okay?" Aaron smiled up at me. "We still need to get something for your mommy though." I looked around. Our apartment was nice, but it was kind of empty. Our computer was our only real luxury; all our other appliances were old and second-hand, but still ran well. We didn't even have a CD player…

            "Hey! I know!" I grinned. "Aaron, you and I are going on a little shopping trip, okay?" As I said that, I swear I saw his eyes light up. He loved going outside. I packed up a diaper bag and his stroller, and then dressed him in some cool clothes and we set out on our quest—to buy our favorite girl a CD player for her new job.

            "Aaron, I don't know what I got myself into," I admitted to my son as we exited the store.

            I had, in my possession, a new CD player. It wasn't much—there were a lot nicer models—but I didn't want to spend all our income on that. Kari would have a fit, even if the CD player was for her. Now my dilemma was, how was I going to carry both the CD player and push the stroller? I shook my head at Aaron. "I shouldn't have taken you. I should have left you with your Auntie Mimi."

            He just let out a happy squeal. I rolled my eyes. How was I gonna get home?

            "T.K.?" A familiar voice resounded in my ears and I turned. Speak of the devil—it was Mimi. "You look like you could use some help."

            "Meems—wow, fancy meeting you here. What are you doing here?"

            As soon as the words came out of my mouth I regretted it—this was a store. Mimi was a girl, a girl who loved to shop. No sooner had I thought this when she answered me…

            "Shopping, of course!" She let out this high-pitched giggle. Seriously, I love Mimi, but sometimes, just sometimes, she can be really immature. Like now. Thankfully, she sobered up a bit. "Do you want me to push or to carry?"

            "You can push Aaron. I think he likes the company." After cooing and making faces at Aaron, Mimi took the handle of the stroller and pushed as we walked side by side. "So, what have you guys been up to?" she asked me.

            "The usual—school, work, taking care of this guy, you know the deal."

            "How are you guys holding up?" Mimi asked, concern evident in her kind eyes.

            I sighed. "We're getting by. It's hard sometimes. Oh, Kari got a job. That's why I'm here buying this for her." I held up the CD box. "I figured she might need it."

            "Why would she need a CD player for her job?" Mimi asked, perplexed.

            "She's now an official talent scout for a new record label," I said, proudly.

            Mimi's eyes lit up. "Really? Oh, wow… that's so cool." She smiled. "I'm so glad for you two."

            "Thanks." We had approached the stairway that descended to the subway station. "Mimi, thanks for your help again. I can handle it from here."

            She looked warily at the stairs. "You sure? A stroller is hard enough on stairs."

            "Well… maybe I might need help down the first flight of stairs."

            Mimi grinned. "You have overcome your manly pride and admitted you need assistance. Good for you."

            I laughed. "That's what being married does to you."

            "Hey. I take offense to that statement. My Joe is nothing like that. Come on, let's get down these stairs." She maneuvered the stroller so carefully, more carefully than I could ever or had ever done, down the stairs, and got me down to the landing. "There you go."

            "Thank you so much, Mimi—I don't know how I'd have done it without you."

            "You know, you could have just called me and I would have watched Aaron for you while you went shopping," Mimi said thoughtfully.

            I shrugged. "Oh well. Hey, call us later—Tai and Sora are coming in a few days."

            "Really?" she squealed. I nodded. "I'll keep you posted, okay?"

            "Okay, thanks!"

            "T.K.? Love, I'm home."

            It was late that night when Kari got back from school. I was grateful that Aaron was asleep—I needed my time with Kari. As I was coming home from the station, I realized that the next day was our anniversary—one year of marriage!—and so I had stopped by the store by the subway station to get stuff again. I also had planned a day that Kari and I could just be with each other. So I had waited up for her to let her know.

            "Hey, Light. How was school?" I asked as I wrapped her in an embrace.

            She sighed. "It was okay… I guess."

            I hugged her tighter. "Is there any way you can skip school tomorrow?"

            Kari pulled away and she raised her eyebrow ever so slightly. "T.K…. what are you up to?"

            I grinned. "You read me too well. I was just wondering because I want to spend the day with you tomorrow."

            "And why…" Then she gasped. "Oh my God! I can't believe I forgot!"

            "It's okay… we're both busy…"

            "No, it isn't, I should have remembered, I chose that day."

            "Kari." I silenced her with a kiss. "It's okay. Don't beat yourself up for it."

            She looked up at me, a tender look in her eyes. "I love you, Takeru," she said suddenly, and I smiled as I remembered the very first time had said that to me, so many years ago. I kissed her again, replying, "I love you more, Hikari Takaishi." She smiled at that and kissed me again, and our kiss deepened as I picked her up and carried her to our bedroom.

            And so, we celebrated a year of marriage with lots of love and romance. The next day, we picked up Tai and Sora from the airport, and our first order of business, other than showing Tai where he would be going, was to get Tai and Sora over to Mimi and Joe's. Mimi and Sora exchanged hugs and squeals when they saw each other, not unlike the squeals Kari and Sora had exchanged at the airport. Joe, Tai and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Tai asked, voicing the question that I had been thinking. Mimi turned and glared at him, and we all laughed. 

            "Joe, there's something really important that we need to ask you," Tai said, after the girls had all settled down and we were sitting comfortably. Kari had put Aaron in the little area that Joe and Mimi had for their own son, Steven, and the two boys were playing happily, but with the occasional fight over the toys. Kari smiled affectionately at them and then turned to the discussion at hand.

            "We think… we think that Sora's pregnant, but we haven't been to a doctor yet," Tai continued. "We were hoping…"

            Joe nodded before Tai could continue. "Come on over here, Sora. Tai, you can come too. I just have to do a simple test to check." He led them off into another room, away from sight. Kari sighed. "Wow, I might be an aunt."

            "Yeah, it's crazy—we're all old and starting families," I agreed. "It's just so… surreal sometimes."

            Mimi nodded. "Speaking of families, are you guys gonna have any more kids?"

            My wife and I exchanged glances. "We've been thinking about it," Kari admitted. "But we're really busy right now… we're probably gonna wait for a while before we have another one. But we're going to have at least one more."

            Mimi raised an eyebrow. "At least?" The girls giggled.

            A month later, we gathered around again to celebrate Aaron's first birthday. He was the cutest thing, in the birthday outfit his Auntie Sora had bought for him. Sure enough, she was pregnant, and Kari and Mimi were taking good care of her, as they both had sons of their own. Kari and I had bought Aaron a bunch of new toys, like a camera, a children's notepad with crayons, a talking book, and his own little play area that we were setting up in the apartment. 

            That morning, when he woke up, he toddled (because now he knew how to walk without holding on to anything) over to our room, and said, "Mama." Kari and I had already been awake and discussing stuff when we heard that. Kari raised an eyebrow. "What, honey?"

            But he didn't say anything, just smiled. Kari leaned over, picked him up and put him in between us on the bed. "Good morning, big guy. Do you know what today is?" I asked him.

            He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "birthday," but I wasn't too sure about that. "Well, it's your birthday, which means a year ago today, you were born. And you know what else it means?"

            "Dada!" he suddenly yelled, and Kari and I laughed. "No, it doesn't mean that. It means that you get presents and you get to be the center of attention. Fun, huh?" Kari finished for me. I smiled at her. "You get to open one of your presents now," Kari announced, and Aaron's head snapped up and looked at her excitedly, like he understood exactly what she meant. I reached under our bed and pulled out one of his presents (the book) and handed it to him. "Here you go, Aaron. Happy birthday."

            He took the present and kind of shook it with his hand, and then, after inspecting it for a while, gave it to Kari, who smiled. "No, you open it like this, see?" she said, and tore off a small section of wrapping paper. Aaron had great fun with this as he ripped open the paper and found the book. He grinned and started pressing the buttons on the book, and kind of jumped back and squealed when it made a sound. I smiled. "He'll have fun with this one, I know it," I told Kari.

            After that, we all got changed, and we went for a walk in Central Park. It was the middle of summer, and quite hot, but we all survived. We took him to the petting zoo, where he had the best time (especially around the penguins), and when we got back to our apartment, his aunts and uncles were waiting for him, along with his friend Steve.

            I look back on that day with bittersweetness, because it was such a good memory, but after that, life got harder—a lot harder. I think it's been one of Aaron's only happy birthdays… that I've seen, anyway.

            Kari was beginning to work longer days at the new studio/record building—with her help, Michael was finding more and more talent to work with, and even flipping through random magazines, I could see that Stratus Records was going to become very, very big. I sighed. I missed her a lot. I was writing my novel, but it wasn't anything exciting, that I could tell. Aaron was also getting bigger, saying more words, and I was sad that Kari sometimes wasn't there to see it.

            It was around this time that I started getting fan mail from readers of my first novel, and frankly, I was quite surprised. It made me feel really good that people enjoyed my writing, and it gave me the inspiration to write more. Soon, I found myself writing for hours at a time and not even realizing it. I was able to finish my novel in a few more months, and sent it out to the publishing company, who found it suitable for publication. I was excited—that meant more money for us and to be able to support ourselves.

            The summer rolled by, and with it lots of wonderful and not so wonderful things—we found out that Tai was getting further in his goal to become ambassador, and he needed to stay longer. He and Sora needed to stay until the end of October, which was a good two months more, and we decided that he would stay with us, because they had been staying with Mimi and Joe for the last month and a half. We also discovered that Tai and Sora were going to have twins. Tai would be going through training and briefings on why we needed a Digital World ambassador, so he was gone most of the time, too, and Sora stayed home and was a great help in watching Aaron. If Tai succeeded in becoming ambassador, then he would have to spend his time equally in New York City and Washington, D.C., as both the United Nations and the U.S. Government would have to work closely with him. To that end, Tai was debating on moving to Washington. It wasn't too far away, he argued, and he had a feeling the Government needed more convincing than the UN. "I promise, we'll be out of here by the end of October. I just need that time to put all my affairs in order, maintaining that I do get the job that I want."

            I smiled. "Tai, you sound like Joe now. Using big words like 'maintaining.'"

            "Hey, when you live with the guy for two months, you get used to it." We laughed at that.

            Surprisingly, the two months went by pretty fast. Aaron loved having his aunt and uncle there, and Tai loved playing with his only nephew. He is going to make a great father, I thought, as I watched him playing with Aaron. Tai was tossing him up in the air and catching him, while Aaron squealed happily, his unruly brown hair flying in response to the wind resistance. I grinned as I realized how much they looked alike.

            On the second to last night of their stay, we all went out to dinner and celebrated the fact that Tai had indeed captured the job as Ambassador to the Digital World. We were all really excited about that and had gotten in contact with some of the Digimon over there to tell them the good news. Anyway, at the dinner, Tai announced that they had found a place in Washington and were going to move pretty soon. "I want to thank all of you, my sister, my brother-in-law, and two great friends, for making us feel welcome in your homes, for taking care of my wife and two daughters when I couldn't (because we had not only found out that the babies were twins, but we had discovered that they were girls), and for extending part of your life to make sure we were okay." Kari had tears in her eyes at her brother's heartfelt thanks. I was feeling sad myself—I didn't want to see them go.

            However, when Kari and I returned that night, we did admit that we had missed our privacy. As soon as the door closed behind us, Kari jumped up and kissed me with more passion than she ever had recently. "Wow, what was that for?" I asked, a few minutes later.

            "I missed you," she said, simply. "We haven't really seen each other and even when we did, my brother was here."

            "I know," I replied, in between kisses. "But we're alone now." And truly alone—Mimi and Joe had offered to take Aaron and let him spend the night, since he and Steve were becoming great friends.

            Kari raised an eyebrow. "I'll be back. I'm just going to change into something more comfortable." She winked seductively and I could feel my insides stirring. We hadn't been close like that in a long time, and I was feeling just how much we hadn't been together. Feeling as young as I was all of a sudden, I decided not to wait for her and ran into the room after her.

            The weather had turned colder and soon it was the Christmas season. The first snow of the year had fallen in early December, effectively making both myself and my son squeal with excitement. (Or, rather, making Aaron squeal with excitement and myself gasp.) We had taken him out to play in the snow, and also ice skating in Rockerfeller Center, and we all enjoyed this greatly. However, while we were heading back in the subway, Kari sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. "You okay, Kar?" I asked her, knowing fully well that she wasn't.

            She closed her eyes. "No," she whispered. "I feel sick."

            "I'm sorry, Light," I said apologetically, while I rubbed her back soothingly. She smiled very faintly at the gesture and I continued, as Aaron, being the toddler that he was, ran around in the train, until Kari physically got up and snatched him from doing anything drastic. "Aaron, you sit there, okay?" she said, a hint of irritation in her voice, although I knew she was trying to keep it even. "Mommy's tired and she can't run after you any more today."

            "Don't worry, Kari," I whispered in her ear. "I'll take care of him." I let him sit in my lap and play a little while Kari continued to lay her head on my shoulder. I could tell Aaron was kind of sad, when he saw how much discomfort his mom was in. "It's okay, buddy. Mommy's just tired, like she said. She'll be okay."

            Finally, after we got home, I put Aaron in his room and instructed Kari to lie down. I was in the kitchen, bustling around getting some ice for her, when I could hear her in the bathroom. I rushed over and found her heaving up her lunch, so I pulled back her hair and stroked her back gently until she was done. "I feel horrible," she said weakly. "I hate throwing up."

            "Well, then, you need to rest. I knew letting you go out in the cold was a bad idea. Come on, you're going to sleep."

            "But T.K., I have an interview tomorrow with—"

            I cut her off with a hand to her mouth. "I don't care what you have to do. You are not feeling well, and you are going to rest for at least twenty-four hours."

            She glared at me as I picked her up and carried her to the bed, and I knew I was being overbearing, but it was my job as her husband to make sure she was okay. Don't look at me like that—I wasn't trying to be a control freak, but I wouldn't let her do anything if she was feeling the way she was.

            I let her settle in the soft sheets and the pillows before getting her some 7-Up and some saltine crackers. "Here, this might settle your stomach a bit," I offered, taking a washcloth and dipping it in a basin full of water on Kari's nightstand, then sponged it carefully onto her head. "Come on, you have to admit that feels better."

            Kari smiled. "Maybe…"

            I grinned. "See? What did I tell you? Now drink a little soda and eat a few crackers—that's all you can handle at the moment."

            She obediently did as I asked her, and after a while, she said, "T.K.?"

            "Yes?"

            "Thank you for taking care of me." She smiled.

            I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "It's my job. I promised you, remember? 'In sickness and in health,' right? And besides, I don't like seeing you sick. So just rest, okay?"

            Kari nodded, and I could tell she was starting to fall asleep. So I tucked the covers around her and whispered, "Sleep tight, my angel," and then closed the door, so that nothing would disturb her.

            Two weeks later, she didn't seem to be getting any better. I was really worried about her, because I knew how prone she was to getting sick. Thankfully, neither Aaron nor I had caught the bug, so at least she wasn't contagious. Finally, after another restless night of Kari being sick, I suggested, "Why don't you go see Joe?" Finally, Joe had his own office in a nice building full of all kinds of specialists. Even though he didn't specialize in gynecology, we still trusted him more than anyone and he was well versed in the subject, too, thanks to Kari, and then his own wife, and then Sora. "I mean, you've had decreased productivity in the last two weeks—don't you want to find out what's wrong so you can work again?"

            This brightened Kari's face and I could tell that she was becoming a workaholic, the prospect of which perturbed me. "Okay. I'll see him tomorrow, I promise."

            "Kari."

            She turned. "Yes?"

            "Promise me one thing."

            She blinked. "Anything."

            "Try not to get better so you can work—try to get better for yourself, okay?"

            Kari sighed, not a wistful sigh, but more of an irritated sigh. "Okay."

            "Please, Light… I don't want to see you overworked," I told her, with a pleading undertone.

            Her face softened. I knew just exactly how to get to her.

            The next day, I had to go in to talk to the publishers—some kind of deal—so I left Aaron with Mimi, again, to talk to them. I inwardly sighed as I heard their demands—they wanted me to write three novels a year, at least. Otherwise, they would terminate my contract. I had to agree—how else would I be able to publish my stuff and support my family? They also required me to go to a writer's convention in Chicago next summer, around the time of Aaron's birthday. I nodded again, wishing all the while that I could have an independent publishing company or something. 

            When I got back home, Kari was waiting for me—surprisingly—and happier than I had ever seen her in a long time. "I take it you saw Joe and you're okay now."

            Kari nodded. "But it's so much better than that, love."

            "Really?"

            Kari nodded her head up and down quite fast. "What is it, then?"

            She grinned—involuntarily, I think, like it was pasted to her face. She was positively glowing. The only time I had seen her like this was when she was pregnant with Aaron… oh. Realization dawned on me—her being sick, the timespan…

            "Kari, I think I know what it is."

            "Do you?" she said, excitedly. "You should. You're a smart cookie."

            I laughed. How was I going to say this? I was still floored by the possibility. "Okay. Me." I pointed to myself. "You." I pointed to her. "Am I good so far?"

            "Yeah, but…" Kari had a puzzled look on her face,

            "Okay. Love." I put a hand to my heart. "Family." I gestured around our house, to include Aaron. "Baby." I put a hand gently on her stomach.

            She giggled. "How did you know?"

            "I should have known. Come on, think about it."

            "Yep, I guess the raging hormones are still there, huh?" Kari laughed. "But yeah. I'm pregnant."

            I sighed. "Wow. Again."

            My wife laughed. "Yep. Again. T.K., I know that it's not the easiest of times right now, but I've always wanted another baby. I love Aaron, but he can't be with Steve all the time."

            "Kari, love, you don't have to make excuses. Has it occurred to you that I might want another child too?" I opened my arms to her. "Come here." She walked willingly into my embrace and I hugged her tight. "I love you. You're my wife, the mother of my child—children. You are the reason for everything I do. You have no idea how happy I am right now."

            Kari hugged me back tightly. "Oh, T.K…. I'm so lucky to have you."

            "I'm the lucky one." We stayed there like that for a long time, just being content in each other's arms.

Hope you liked it! Please review for me, I love them! =D Thank you!


	16. Chapter Twelve: Disaster

an: Well, here's the next chapter. It was originally going to end differently, but the story seems to write itself, you know, and to that end, you guys are getting an extra chapter! Be happy! However, writing three chapters in one week is going to be crazy. I think I'm going to combine the last interlude and the epilogue, okay? 

I only got three reviews on the last chapter! *cries* Come on, you guys! You're the ones that brought me to over 100 reviews… I have faith in you. Don't let me down now!

Oh, and check out my story in the collection "Tea and Biscuits for the Takari fan's Soul" by says TB—in the collection it's just "Takari Story," but it's really supposed to be titled "What Dreams May Come." =D

By the way, I revised the beginning of "Together Again," now that I know how the story turned out. And there's an extra scene in Chapter 1 of "Together Again," so go re-read it if you haven't!

One more thing – in the next chapter, you'll be treated to lots of songs, yay!

Okay. Now read. It's kind of sad at the end, but yeah… anyway, you know they're not mine, except Aaron, Hope and Steve.

*

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Twelve: Disaster

            With the prospect of a new baby on the way, news spread around fast. The first to know, was of course, Aaron. I could tell he was really confused about how in seven months or so, there would be another baby, even though he couldn't really talk yet. He still seemed excited, though.

            Tai and Sora were beyond excited, considering that Sora due pretty soon, and that her girls would have another cousin not too much younger than them. And Mimi and Joe, of course, were excited as well. It seemed that everyone was more excited about this baby than Kari and I were. Oh, we were happy we were going to have another child. But it just seemed that… life was getting harder. Kari was irritable when she got too big to go to work, claiming that we didn't have enough money. So I worked harder to get the first of my three novels out, and then she got irritable that I didn't spend much time with her. I shook my head. Women.

            Our new baby was due at the beginning of August, right when it was really hot and muggy in New York. Aaron was getting into everything, and it was hard for Kari to chase after him, now that she was pregnant. I tried to help out, but it was hard when I was the only one trying to make money, and once again, the royalties were sporadic, so there were times when there wasn't enough. Michael sent us mp3's sometimes, so that Kari could still listen, but it wasn't really the same. Life was stressful.

            A bit of good news came in March, when Tai called us to tell us that Sora had beautiful, healthy twin baby girls. "I named one Kari, for my sister," he explained. "Sora named the other girl Marina, because she thought it was a pretty name. And then we decided to lengthen Kari's name to Karina, so that we wouldn't be confused."

            Kari laughed. "Do you realize their names rhyme?"

            "No, I didn't," Tai said, laughing.

            "Yeah, and their names rhyme with your last name. When they're old enough, you are never going to hear the end of it."

            We all laughed, at the little ray of light in our lives.

            As the months progressed, and Kari's due date got closer, I began to get more jittery, especially since I still had that convention to go to. We had decided we didn't want to know if our second child was going to be a boy or a girl, so we picked out names for both possibilities. 

            "Light?" I asked her one night, when we were lying in bed.

            She turned. "Hmm?"

            "If the baby is a girl… can we name her Hope?"

            Kari smiled. "Well, alright, since Aaron has my crest name."

            I shrugged. "We couldn't have named him Hope, now could we?"

            Laughing, Kari shook her head. "I guess not. That's a pretty name. Hope." She looked down at her slightly rounded stomach. "Are you my little girl?" She waited, to see if there would be any reaction, when all of a sudden, her eyes widened. "What?" I asked, alarmed. "What is it?"

            Kari said nothing, just took my hand and put it over her stomach. "Hold on. Maybe she'll do it again."

            "She?" I raised an eyebrow. "How are you sure all of a—" I was cut off when I felt a movement underneath the skin. I turned to my wife, my eyes widening. "Was that…"

            "That was the baby kicking," she said, a sheen of tears making her eyes sparkle more than usual. "She can feel us."

            "How are you sure she's a she?" I asked, then laughed at the redundancy of my own question.

            "Because when we suggested the name Hope, that was the first time the baby kicked. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I have a feeling she can hear us and wants to let us know that we're right."

            I sighed. "I just hope you're not disappointed when it's a boy."

            Kari shook her head. "You already have your boy. I want a little girl, too."

            I wrapped my arms around her as we prepared to sleep. "We will see, Light. We will see."

            The weeks came and went, and as Kari's due date loomed even closer, something began to bother me, and continued to bother me for a while. It had to do with the convention—I had never told Kari about it, with the pregnancy and all. I knew that it was extremely close to her due date, and I would be gone for Aaron's birthday as well, but if I wanted to keep making money to support them, I had to go. I didn't know exactly how to tell Kari this, so I threw myself into my writing. The ironic thing is that my writing was what was bothering me in the first place.

            One night, after trying to keep my distance from Kari for a while, I felt a hand on my leg as I sat at the computer, yet again. I looked down and found Aaron, very close to his second birthday. "Hey you," I greeted him. "How's it going?"

            He made the cutest sad face and told me, "Mommy sad."

            I looked at him peculiarly. "Really?"

            Aaron nodded.

            I sighed. "I'll go see what's up, okay? Thanks for letting me know." Before I could get up, he hugged my legs tight. "Love you, Daddy."

            I smiled, picked him up, threw him in the air—something he loved—and caught him, then kissed him on the forehead. "Love you too, Aaron." Then I carried him over to our (Kari's and my) room, where I could hear sniffles. Aaron's big blue eyes filled with tears, as he struggled to get down. I put him down and he rushed to his mother. "No sad. Daddy's here."

            She turned and saw me in the doorway, then turned back to Aaron. At that moment, my heart broke, seeing Kari so hurt. I knew then that I had blown it. "Kari."

            She didn't turn, although she did stop sniffling. I decided it was time to tell her. "Aaron, go play."

            "No," Kari protested. "Let him stay. I need him."

            What a blow. My heart broke just a bit more as I sat down on the bed next to her and touched her shoulder. Surprisingly, she didn't recoil like I thought she would, so I took it as a good thing. "Light… I'm so sorry. I just… something's been bothering me lately, and I didn't want to tell you because, well, I was afraid you'd act like this, and I didn't want you to."

            "You could have told me and then I would decided," she said, a very scalding note in her voice. I sighed. "I know I shouldn't keep things from you and I'm sorry. I just… there's a convention I need to go to next month, in order to keep my contract, and I know it's really close to your due date. I just… Kari, this is my only way of contributing to this family monetarily, my way of providing for us. Isn't that my job? I'm just sorry I didn't tell you sooner." When her back was still turned to me, I sighed and said, "I hope you forgive me," and got up and left, sitting in our too-cushy sofa and just stared at the wall.

The next morning, I was still there. I sighed at the crick in my neck and went in to check on Kari. "Hey, you okay?"

            She looked over at me and smiled—a tiny smile, but still a smile. "Yeah. I'm just… I thought a lot about what you said last night, and I understand. I just… you know you can tell me anything, T.K. I don't want us to be keeping anything from each other."

            "Does this mean I can sit on the bed now?" I asked mischievously.

            Kari smiled a little bigger. "Yeah, the baby and I missed you."

            I eagerly, maybe too eagerly, jumped on the bed, effectively making Kari giggle, and hugged her tight. "I love you, T.K."

            I grinned. "I love you, too, Kari."

            A week later, I was on my way to the dreaded convention. On the plane, I thought back to what I had told Kari and Aaron, trying to quell the rising fear that I had of flying in planes…

*Flashback*

            _"Kar, make sure that if anything should happen, you call Joe as soon as you can, okay?"___

_            She smiled. "I have__ had a baby before, you know."           _

_            "Still, though. I won't be here and I want to make sure that you'll be okay. It's not like it's a piece of cake."_

_            Kari laughed heartily. "You can say that again." Then she slowly sobered. "T.K., please make sure you're okay. I don't want to go through this without you."_

_            "Well… she's not due for another two weeks, so hopefully that'll be enough time."_

_            "So the baby's a she, huh?" Kari asked, raising an eyebrow._

_            I shrugged. "You never know." Then I turned to Aaron. "Hey, buddy. I know it'll be your birthday soon, and I promise I'll bring you something from where I'm going, okay?"_

_            Aaron grinned his trademark grin. "Kay, Daddy."_

_            I gave them both huge hugs. "I love you guys. Aaron, make sure you take care of Mommy, okay?"_

_            He nodded. "And Kari… remember, at the first sign of anything fishy… call Joe. And let me know. But don't try to wait for me, I won't make it in time, I'm pretty sure. I don't want you in danger just because you want me there."_

_            She sighed. "T.K…"_

_            "Kari, please. I am more concerned for your health and your safety than anything else. Just do it for me, okay?"_

_            Kari nodded, slowly. "Okay."_

_            I swept her in a huge hug. "I love you."_

_            "T.K…. be safe," Kari implored, in my ear._

_            I kissed her in the forehead in reply, saying, "I promise," and then picked up my bags and headed out the door._

*Real time*

            Now, flying farther and farther away from my family, I sighed. The convention was only for a few days, but I missed them already. I tried to distract myself by writing some stuff on a notebook that I always carried, but it didn't quite work. Finally, I gave up and tried to sleep, but dreams of my family haunted me. I had a feeling something was going to happen.

            After too many long hours, I got off the plane and was headed to my hotel. It was a decent morning hour when I got there, and the convention was scheduled to start about an hour and a half later, so as soon as I got into the hotel, I unpacked really fast and headed over to the meeting rooms.

            Six very interesting hours later, I wearily made my way back to the hotel room. The jet lag was starting to set in, and all I was concentrating on was getting one foot in front of the other. After I completed my mission, I got ready for bed, and right before I went to sleep, I noticed the blinking light on my phone. Hastily, I called to retrieve my message, and it went something like this:

            _"Hey, T.K.__ It's Joe. Listen, Kari was complaining about stomach pains, so I'm over here now. It doesn't seem like much right now, so she should be okay. I'll call you if anything else happens."_

I nodded to myself… I was glad to have Kari in such safe hands.

            Later that night, I was interrupted from my dream of flying pandas attacking Tai and Matt by the shrill sound of the phone. "'Lo?"

            "T.K., it's Mimi. Kari's going into labor!" she said, breathlessly.

            "What?" I said, already pulling myself out of bed. "But… her due date…"

            "Well, this kid's determined to get here sooner, I guess." In the background, I could hear Kari yelling, and I sighed. "Hurry up, T.K. Get here as soon as you can."

            "I will. I'll keep in touch." I hung up and rushed around my room super fast, taking a record two minutes to pack up. Then, I went down to the desk and told them I had to leave, and then rushed to the airport to find a flight.

            The first available flight was scheduled, luckily, an hour from the time I got to the airport. I rushed frantically to the ticket counter and was put on standby, not knowing if I was able to get a seat. It was a crowded flight, even though it was late, and I was seriously worried. I told the attendant about my predicament and she pledged to help, but couldn't promise anything. Thankfully, I was able to get my seat, and when the time came, I rushed onto the plane. 

            It felt like forever until the plane finally took off, and even longer for the flight. It takes maybe about two hours to fly from Chicago to New York, so I was a little restless while we were flying. I kept tapping my pencil, or shaking my leg, until the guy next to me got annoyed and asked me to stop.

            "Listen, what would you do if you knew your wife was in labor and this was the fastest way to get to her?" I snapped bitterly at him.

            He shrugged. "Don't have one. Now will you stop?"

            "Fine." I resorted to staring out the window, wondering if my second child would be a boy or a girl, what he or she would look like, and most importantly, how Kari was holding up…

            A very tiring two and a half hours later, I practically ran into the hospital. "Kari Takaishi?" I asked the receptionist.

            "Room 529, sir."

            "Thank you." I rushed into the elevator and waited very impatiently for it to get to the fifth floor. When it dinged, I darted out and counted the rooms. "514, 512, 506… I'm going the wrong way!" I exclaimed in frustration, then found my way back to the elevator and headed in the other direction. On the way there, I passed by the nursery, the same one I had paced in front of almost exactly two years ago, when Aaron was born. I smiled at the new lives that were getting acquainted with the world. I touched my fingers to the glass, trying to see if my new son or daughter was there. Seeing those innocents calmed me down, and I tried to look my best so that I would look decent to meet my next baby.

            Taking smaller strides now, I walked calmly down the hallway, even though the underlying feeling of anticipation was definitely still there. Finally, on my right side, I reached room 529, and was about to knock on it, and then realized that I had nothing to give Kari. Sighing, I knocked on it anyway. "Can I come in?" I poked my head in the door and found the most amazing sight.

            Kari was sitting on the bed, holding the smallest little bundle of blankets and blonde hair I'd ever seen. She had a tired, but dazzling smile on her face, and her eyes lit up with tears when she saw me. At this sight, I now definitely regretted that I had nothing to give her, when here she was, holding my…

            "It's a girl, T.K.," Kari whispered. "She's sleeping."

            Wordlessly, I kissed my wife on the forehead. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be here for you. I rushed as fast as I could, really, I did."

            "I know." She smiled again. "You look it."

            "Do I?" I looked down at my rumpled clothes, then at the baby. "I'm sorry, baby, that you have to see me for the first time like this, but your daddy got here as soon as he could." I looked down at the tiny bundle. "What's her name?"

            "What else? Hope."

            I nearly started crying when I heard that. "Oh, my little angel, Hope… that's a perfect name."

            "I knew that was the name you wanted for her, so that's what I told the nurse her name was," Kari explained. Before I could ask another question, she beat me to the answer. "She doesn't have a middle name yet."

            "I was just going to ask that. You want to give it to her or should I?" I asked her.

            "What do you think would be a good name for her?" Kari asked me. "I can't come up with a good one."

            I gazed at my daughter, and thought about the family she was coming into. Suddenly, it came to me. "Akira."

            Kari looked at me a bit strangely, then looked down at Hope, then nodded. "Hope Akira. It works." She smiled. "Do you want to hold her, love?"

            I nodded. "Please?"

            "Of course." She gingerly handed me our daughter and I held her gently in my arms. "Happy birthday, my little girl." I kissed her on her tiny, tiny forehead and she suddenly yawned. "Oh…" I said to Kari. "I think she's waking up."

            Sure enough, Hope opened her eyes and I found that she had the exact same chocolate-ruby eyes as her mother. I smiled at her. "Hi, love. I'm your daddy."

            As soon as I said that, I swear she gave me a smile back, and my heart melted. I looked over at my wife, who was watching the scene with tears in her eyes. It was always an amazing experience when a baby was born, especially our own, but something about Hope bonded me to her even more than Aaron. Maybe it was because she was a girl… maybe it was because she had my crest name. I didn't know exactly what it was, but I felt the familiar wave of unconditional love wash over me.

            "Kari," I whispered, over the baby.

            "Yes?"

            "I love you. Thank you for giving me a beautiful daughter."

            With Hope coming two weeks early, she coincidentally shared a birthday with her big brother. Aaron was staying with Mimi and Joe, and so when the visiting hours started, which was a few hours later—Kari and I both fell asleep in the room until then—Aaron rushed into the room. "Baby?" he asked. Then he saw me. "Daddy!" He ran over to me and I picked him up. "Hey, buddy. The baby's sleeping right now. But you know something?"

            He looked up at me, questioningly, with his big blue eyes.

            "Today is your birthday, too. You and the baby—it's a girl, by the way, and her name is Hope—you guys have the same birthday."

            Aaron's eyes lit up and he smiled. Just then, a nurse came by with the bassinet and Hope was making tiny, tiny baby sounds. Kari rose to take the baby out of the bassinet and Aaron went over to the bed to have a look at his new sister.

            "That's the baby, Aaron. That's your little sister. Make sure you take care of her, okay?"

            He stood on his tiptoes, but still couldn't see, so I lifted him up onto the bed, next to Kari. He made this little sound, like he was exhaling, kind of, and tentatively stuck out one finger to touch the baby. "Be careful, Aaron," Kari chided him, and he gently poked her—not even poked her—tiny hand. "Little," Aaron declared.

            Kari smiled. "Yeah, she's tiny, isn't she? But she's so beautiful."

            Aaron made that gasping/exhaling sound again and Kari turned her attention to Hope once more. Sure enough, she was opening her eyes again. Aaron stared, wide-eyed, at Kari, and Kari nodded. "Yeah, she's a little baby, just like you were. Isn't it amazing?"

            I smiled over all their heads, just happy to be a family. And, another amazing thing happened—Aaron said his first full sentence on his second birthday. I know it's kinda early for kids to be talking that soon, but it was truly amazing to hear him say, clearly, "Happy birthday, baby." Somehow, that image stayed with me, as clearly as it happened, until now.

            The next four years were very tumultuous. Kari began working again, and about two years after Hope was born, Stratus Records exploded when they discovered the biggest thing in pop music since Britney Spears (except she wasn't big then). To this end, Kari started working furiously over there, and wasn't there much for us. I, on the other hand, was sick and tired of the contract I was working for, and so I quit. It wasn't worth going through all that trouble, especially now that I had two kids. The only thing was that we didn't have the extra income. So, in the hopes of finding a decent publisher, I started publishing my stories on FictionPress.com (AN: shameless plug for FictionPress.com—and my stories there that have no reviews… haha), and got many comments which they called reviews. One of these reviews was a publisher. He had said that he enjoyed my work very much, and even recognized my name, and he would be happy to pick up what I had. However, he was based in California. He—his name was Daniel—had said that it wasn't too hard to get manuscripts from here to there, but he preferred that I was as close to the publishing company as possible. I told him that wasn't an option at the moment, and he understood, and he would publish my work, but if there was any opening whatsoever into moving to California, then he would be really happy.

            So I threw myself into writing again. It was a good arrangement, because I was there for Aaron and Hope too. Kari had decided that she was making enough money at Stratus, so she dropped out of school. It was a shame, too—she was about two quarters off from graduation when she decided to drop out, and all she really needed was her teaching credential. But, apparently, she didn't mind her job too much—actually, it was a great job, we both had to admit—and it was our primary source of income, so we were all okay with it. Her parents weren't too happy, but when she told them how much she made a year, they softened a bit. See, she was very ambitious, and soon was promoted to some fancy job with people under her to do some work. 

            Aaron was growing up to be quite the storyteller. He had an imagination that was amazing. He gave me some inspiration for my stories, too, sometimes, and I started a project to branch out into children's books, thanks to him. He also loved his toy camera and loved taking pictures of things. We bought him a really cheap Polaroid camera, too, one of those sticker ones, and he'd take pictures, which would end up being of people's knees, or shoes, or the wall two feet under the window… it was really funny, but he had a penchant for photography—like his mom before him.

            And of course, he was a great big brother. As he and Hope were growing up, he made sure to always take care of her, make sure she didn't fall when she was trying to walk, make sure she didn't stick her hand into the electrical socket—I think he had personal experience with that one—and just kept her company and played with her. They had a great brother/sister dynamic, and I was really happy that we had decided to have another child.

            As for Hope… she was truly the anchor that held the family together. She had a charming little smile, even when she was still a baby, and as soon as she could talk, she would hum little tunes and sing to herself. We got her a toy ukulele for her second birthday, and she'd go around and plink at it for hours on end. Aaron would make up funny words to her plinking, and it was the funniest thing. I even got one of them on tape one time, just in case Kari didn't see one. But she did—they did it all the time.

            Kari's workaholicness (is that a word?) didn't bother me too much before, but now that we had two kids and her career was taking off, sometimes I felt like she was neglecting us. I didn't care if she neglected me, but Aaron and Hope needed their mother, too, and she wasn't there nearly as much as I wanted her to be. Every time I tried to talk about it, she'd say, "But T.K., I can't get that much time off," or, "T.K., without my job, we wouldn't have anything," or something like that. It truly annoyed me that all she could think about was her career. Growing up in a broken home with a mother that was a workaholic, I knew from personal experience. She didn't have that kind of perspective—she had had a house with both her parents and her big brother Tai. I didn't even see Matt all that much.

            One day, I persuaded her to take some time off. "We need a vacation. We need to go far away, take the kids somewhere where they'll have a blast." It was just after Aaron's fifth and Hope's third birthdays, respectively, and I decided that they needed to see something that would really make them excited and happy in the way all little kids are excited and happy. 

            "But T.K.," Kari began, and I knew what was coming, so I cut her off before she could continue. "Listen to me, Kari. All you do is whine about how your job is so important, how we won't have any money if you don't go to work, all that stuff I've heard a million times. Money isn't everything. And at the rate you're going, you're starting to neglect your family."

            "Me? You're the one who's at home doing nothing," she retorted.

            "You have the audacity to say that to me, Hikari? I am at home, writing—that's the only way I can monetarily contribute to this household—taking care of our two kids, and you say I'm doing nothing? You can afford to take three days off of work. A week, even. You don't know what it's like to grow up in a broken home with your mother, the ever ambitious reporter, always out trying to find the best angle for a story, or staying up until all hours trying to type up an editorial. Ever since I was six, Kari, that's the life I've had to live. Before you even knew me, that's the life I was living. I thought you knew that better than anyone, but I see that your mindset of putting others before you was something you lost when you lost the innocence of childhood. And I'm not just talking about physically, either. I'm determined not to let my children live the same kind of life I did."

            Kari stood there, not knowing what to say. I could see it in her eyes. She knew I was serious because I hardly ever called her by her real name. Just then, I could feel a tugging at my pant leg, and I looked down to see Hope. "Daddy, I'm hungry."

            "Okay, we'll go and make dinner, okay? What do you want?"

            "Ummm…" She struck this adorable pose with one finger on her chin, one hip jutted out slightly to the side, her other hand on her hip. "Spam!" she finally declared.

            I laughed and tousled her hair. "Okay. But you know, you shouldn't eat it too much, it's bad for you."

            "How?" she asked, her big scarlet-brown eyes looking up at me in wonder, like she'd never heard anything so profound in her life.

            I squatted down so that I was eye level with her. "It tastes good, right?"

            Hope nodded her head up and down vigorously. "Well, sometimes what tastes good isn't so good inside your tummy. Too much of it will make it feel bad."

            "So… if I eat some today… can I have some tomorrow?" she reasoned.

            I laughed. "Sure. Come on, let's go." I turned back to Kari, who was still watching us, a pensive look on her face. "Think about what I said, Kari."

            She nodded, and then Hope squealed, "Mommy!" and hugged her legs. Kari picked her up and smiled absently. "Hey, love. How are you?"

            "I miss you, Mommy. You should come hang out with us more often." With that, she jumped out of her mother's arms and I took her to the kitchen. I turned back to look at Kari one last time and I could see the tiny shimmer of tears falling out of her eyes.

            I guess you could say my powers of persuasion worked on my wife, because about two weeks later, we journeyed to Florida. It was kind of bad judgment on both our parts, because it was the beginning of August and it was super hot, and muggy to boot. Even with the yucky weather, Aaron and Hope had a ball at Disney World. Aaron was positively enthralled with Princess Jasmine—he said he wanted to marry her—and Hope loved Goofy and Winnie the Pooh. It was so funny. In the hotel, they had a play area where you could leave the kids while the parents went out and did some other stuff—shopping, having some alone time, what have you—and so we left Aaron and Hope there for a while, just so Kari and I could have some quality time. Mind you, since we were always busy, we didn't always have that at home. And it was truly well-spent.

            The week passed by much too quickly, and before I knew it, we were back in New York, back to our boring lives. Kari was convinced that she had taken too much time off of work and went back to working as much as ever. I continued to write and take care of the kids. Aaron's first day of kindergarten was coming up, and he was super excited. I helped him pick out an outfit, and Kari even bought him a new shirt.

            On his first day, we took a picture of him all decked out in his school clothes. He had the biggest grin on his face when we took the picture, and Kari had volunteered to take him to school, as it was on the way to her office. I gave Aaron a hug and said, "Have fun, bud," while Hope nearly cried because she'd be all by herself. "I'll be sad," she said. "You won't be here to play with me."

            Aaron smiled, his patented big-brother smile, and hugged Hope, saying, "Don't worry, Hope, it's only for a little bit every day. I'll be back here and we'll be able to play again." 

            This made Hope feel better. "Okay. Daddy will be able to play with me when you're gone, right?"

            "Sure."

            "Okay. Have fun, Aaron!" she waved airily, her shoulder-length blonde hair waving behind her.

            Hope and I had great fun on those days where it was just us. We made breakfast together, I asked her opinion on some ideas I had on my story—very generalized and easy for three year olds to understand, of course—and I helped her make up words to go along with the plinks on her ukulele. Of course, I didn't live up to her big brother's standards, but she deemed I was okay enough to continue to play with.

            The days passed on like this for a while, until one day, Kari came home a bit earlier with expected, Aaron in tow. She was beaming.

            "What's up, Kar? Got a promotion?"

            She shook her head. "Where's Hope?"

            "I'm right here," she announced, breezing into the room. Even at a young age, she had a penchant for theatrics. "Hi, Mommy." She embraced her mother and Kari hugged her back. "Hi, Hope. Wanna sit down? I have something to tell you all."

            "Okay!" She plopped down on the couch and folded her hands in her lap, looking the part of the perfect little girl. After greeting my wife hello, I asked her, "What's up?" Kari sat next to me, Aaron on her lap, and announced, "Well… I went to the doctor for my regular check-up, and we discovered something."

            "Are you okay?" I asked in alarm.

            She put a reassuring hand on my arm. "T.K., I'm fine." Kari smiled. "In a few months, guys, we're gonna have another person living here. A baby."

            I gasped. "You're not…" Kari just nodded.

            Aaron grinned. "Another sister?"

            "Or brother," Kari said.

            Hope had an interesting look on her face. "Where is it?"

            Kari took her daughter's hand and put it on her stomach. "It's right here."

            "Really?" she asked, with wide eyes. "It's so small!"

            "It'll get bigger," Kari told her, a sparkle in her eye.

            Hope's eyebrows were furrowed, like she was trying to figure something out. "How did it get there?"

            Kari and I exchanged glances. Ooh, boy. This was gonna be interesting.

            With the notion that we had another mouth to feed coming soon, Kari threw herself into her work. I was really disappointed because I didn't want her to have any complications—Hope coming two weeks early, the doctor had said, was due to stress more than anything else—but she wouldn't listen to my protests, and if anything, worked even harder. So I let her be. However, I found myself becoming more engrossed in my own work, while struggling to be there for the kids. Aaron was having a blast in kindergarten; he was making new friends and learning new things, which he would always tell us when he got home. "Daddy, Daddy, look what I did today!" he'd say, and show me a drawing, or a letter, and I'd smile. Hope would get caught up in all the excitement and just jump around happily, excited that her big brother was home so they could play. There were days that were difficult, and days that were rewarding. But it was still a struggle, most of the time.

            Soon, Halloween was upon us, and to my surprise, Kari came home early. "Hi," she said, and I turned from the computer. "Hey," I greeted her warmly, enveloping her in a hug. "What's up? Did you want to see the kids in the costumes?"

            "Yeah, well… that too, but I'm not feeling too good. The baby's not too happy with me or something." She sighed and rubbed her slightly protruding stomach absently, then proceeded to sit down and lie back on the couch. At that point, Hope came out, in her princess dress already, and ran to Kari. "Hi, Mommy! Look at me!" She twirled around excitedly and Kari grinned.

            "You make a beautiful princess, honey. Where's your crown?"

            Hope made a mock horror-stricken face, then ran back and retrieved her plastic tiara. "Here it is!" she proclaimed, and gave it to me. "Daddy, will you put it on?"

            "Of course, Hope." I placed it gently but securely on her head and kissed her forehead. "There you go."

            "Thank you, Daddy," she said in her sweetest tone. Then she frolicked away into her room so she could play, or whatever three year old girls did.

            Later, when Aaron was picked up and the kids were decked out in their costumes, they were already jumpy to go out and get some candy. I got them to calm down just a little to eat a bit and take some pictures. Kari was laughing at the poses they struck. Finally, after much pleading, I said, "Alright, alright, we'll go now." I turned to Kari. "You okay here?"

            She nodded. "I'll be fine just giving out candy."

            "Okay… just make sure you call me if anything comes up, okay?"

            Kari shook her head. "You are way too overprotective of me."

            "That's because I love you." I kissed her lovingly on her forehead and out of the corner of my eye, saw Aaron and Hope exchanging kid glances that could only say "yuck." I smiled amusedly and said, "Okay guys, say bye to your mom."

            "Bye mommy!" Aaron called—he was already on his way out the door.

            Kari smiled. "Bye, Aaron." Then Hope came up and hugged her legs. "Bye, mommy. And bye bye, baby." She blew a kiss up to Kari's stomach and Kari smiled again. "Bye, Hope. Be a good princess, okay?"

            "Okay!" Hope took my hand and I blew a kiss to my wife before taking the kids to get candy.

            About an hour later—Hope was getting cranky—we returned back to our floor with lots of candy. I opened the door, and was attending to the trick-or-treaters that were waiting when Hope shrieked, "Mommy!" and Aaron followed, "Daddy, come here quick! And hurry!"

            Now thoroughly panicked, I told them, "Just take two," and rushed to the room. I think they understood because they could hear the screams of my children, too.

            When I got to the room, I was greeted with a horrible sight. Kari was laying on the floor, a pool of blood starting to form around her. She wasn't moving, wasn't saying anything—her eyes were closed. "Oh, my God. Kari!" I yelled, shaking her. But she didn't respond. I turned to Aaron and Hope, who had identical looks of horror on their face. "What's wrong with Mommy?"

Aaron asked.

            "I don't know, Aaron, I don't know. Listen. Get the phone. Press the button that says 'Mem' and then press two. Hurry." Aaron rushed off to get the phone. Hope was crying now. "Is Mommy going to be okay?" she asked, in a small voice.

            I got up and picked her up, and held her close to me. "I hope so, love. I hope so."

            I could hear Aaron's voice frantically saying, "Auntie Mimi? My dad told me to call you, my mommy's not moving." He then thrust the phone in my direction. "Meems? Get Joe on the phone. Hurry," I nearly barked into the receiver.

            "Okay." She didn't even ask what was wrong, which was unusual for her. I guess she understood the severity of the situation. After what seemed like an eternity, Joe came on the line. "T.K.? What's wrong?"

            "Kari's lying on the floor of our apartment, there's blood everywhere, and she's not moving. I don't think anyone shot her, but I think there might be something wrong with the baby."

            "You're right, T.K.—she's probably miscarrying right now. Get her to the hospital and I'll meet you there."

            "Okay, thanks." The words didn't have time to register as I rushed her and the kids downstairs, while calling 911 on my cell. Only when I was off the phone and waiting for the ambulance did Joe's words ring in my head. _She's probably miscarrying right now._ Why didn't she call me? I shook my head. "Please, God, let Kari be alright."

            As the ambulance zipped by, I held my children close, watching all the other children on the streets of New York, happily enjoying the experience of collecting candy with their parents, and hoped to God that my own kids would still be able to have that same experience.

            When we got to the hospital, a whirlwind of activity surrounded us. Joe met us just like he promised, with Mimi and Steve in tow. She told me, "I'll take the kids," and I smiled gratefully at her. I waited helplessly for any news on Kari's condition. After what seemed like an eternity, Joe came out. "She's asking for you, T.K."

            I let out the breath I was holding. "So she's okay?"

            "Herself, yes. But…"

            I searched Joe's face and knew what he was going to say. "We lost the baby, didn't we?"

            He nodded sadly. "It was an ectopic pregnancy. The embryo didn't attach itself to the wall of the uterus—she was bound to miscarry anyway." He paused. "I'm really sorry, T.K."

            "It's… it's okay."

            "T.K.?" I heard a faint voice calling me. "Can I…"

            "Of course," Joe answered my unfinished question.

            I rushed to the cubicle and then turned. "Does she know?"

            Joe shook his head. "She just woke up."

            I nodded in understanding. "Okay." I headed over to the cubicle and found Kari, smiling at my presence, but looking overall disoriented. "What… what happened, T.K.? I remember giving out candy one moment and the next, there was this pain in my stomach and…" Her eyes widened. "T.K., is the baby okay?"

            I couldn't answer her.

            "Tell me! Is our child okay?" Kari yelled hoarsely.

            Looking up at her, I saw her eyes pleading with me to just tell her the truth, tell her that it wasn't so, that in five more months she'd be holding her son or daughter in her arms, but I couldn't, because she wouldn't. Sighing deeply, I shook my head. "No," I said in a whisper. "Our baby… it's gone."

            Kari said nothing more, but just sobbed, sobbed and sobbed until there wasn't any strength left in her. The whole time I held her tight, letting the reality and the pain of losing a child sink in.

That was kind of a sad ending, I know. But review! Please!!! Please? =(


	17. Chapter Thirteen,Epilogue One: Aftermath

an: Alright, two chapters in one day!!! Whoo-hoo! I don't think I've ever uploaded this fast before, but what can I say, the inspiration flows. Anyway, some notes…

I already got five reviews for my last chapter. Well, not really for the last chapter, but five more reviews is good. =D I forgot to mention that Hope's middle name, Akira, means "anchor" in Japanese. I'll get into that a little more next chapter.

_crestofhope4salvation_: Why Ireland? The claddaugh ring, of course. That was the whole reason for the chapter, T.K. giving Kari the ring. And since I wanted to let you guys know exactly where it comes from, I incorporated that part into my story. I'm really glad you appreciate it. I did my research for that chapter. =D

Okay, this is titled Epilogue One for a reason. It's not the epilogue of the whole story, just the book. This is the last chapter of the actual book, next chapter (and any chapters after that, if there are any) will be following the "Together Again" storyline. I'm not sure if there will be two more chapters or not, but I'm thinking there will be just one—the wedding. YAY! Hehe. I am also thinking of writing yet another sequel, but it will be just a one-shot based on a scene in this chapter. (See if you can guess what it is!) 

You know the Santa Monica Pier I'm always writing about? I actually got to see it last weekend. It's so cool! I went on the rollercoaster and the Ferris wheel, too. I'm planning on going again sometime soon.

And you know they're not mine, except Aaron and Hope.

One more thing – the songs used in this chapter:

*Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) – Billy Joel (I almost cried when writing this scene! You'll know when it is when you see it—I'm not gonna spoil it for you)

*A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton (It's my favorite song, but it fit perfectly for the part I wrote it in, yay!)

Okay, now read. And review!!! Please?

*

One Light, One Hope

Chapter Thirteen/Epilogue One: Aftermath

            After the loss of our baby, things were never quite the same with Kari and me. She felt really guilty about it, and even though I kept reassuring her there was nothing she could have done about it, I think she felt that I blamed her because she worked too hard, against my warnings. I didn't… although, looking back at it now, somewhere in my subconscious, I think I did, but I repressed it so much that consciously I didn't even think about it.

            Aaron and Hope were happy that their mother was okay, but it was hard to tell them that they wouldn't have the sibling they were looking forward to. Hope took it especially hard, the sparkle in her eye long gone for a while. But she bounced back, like she always does, and soon she was back to her normal self, happy that she still had Aaron.

            It was around this time that Kari and I both threw ourselves into our work, trying to drown the pain that came with losing a child. I often got upset with her for working to hard, citing that it helped bring about her miscarriage, which only affirmed her fears, and then she'd yell back at me that I was working just as hard as she was, and this and that. Soon it went down to little things like dinner, taking care of the kids, simple things like that. After our fights I'd sit on the couch and ponder, think back to my memories when I was about Aaron's age and my parents fought just like this. I shook my head. I didn't want to be like my father. I didn't want to leave my children, separate them, and have life hard like that. But at the same time I didn't want to bring my children up in a home where the parents were bickering all the time. It wasn't healthy.

            Our fights became more and more drastic, and there would be periods where the only time we'd talk was when we were dealing with Aaron and Hope. They could tell that there was tension between their parents and they always hid in either his or her room, but always together. I tried to reason with Kari to stop these childish games for the sake of the kids, but she never listened to me. The only real happy time during this period was Aaron's and Hope's sixth and fourth birthdays. We managed to pull ourselves together for their sake. After that, though, the fighting just got worse. Finally, I got fed up and started yelling at her.

            "Hikari Takaishi! What is wrong with you? I understand that you're mad at me for some things that I said and things that I did, and I'm sorry, but will you just let it go? Let it go not for me, but for your children. I don't want to live like this anymore."

            "Then go and find yourself a job!" she yelled back.

            "So this is what it's about, then? Me not having a job? Or you thinking that I don't have a job? If you haven't noticed, Kari, I do my share around here too, including gathering income. But of course, since I don't go out early and stay out late like you, then my job has no value, right? At least I'm here taking care of my children!"

            "It's not that, T.K., but—"

            "Yes it is!" I interrupted her. "That's all it's about. The job. The career. The high-end office and the near six-figure income! Come on, Kari, I know it, you know it… your job is more important to you than your own family that you claim is the reason why you're not here!"

            "Fine! So what if it is?" Kari protested, crossing her arms across her chest. "Maybe I do like my job too much to sometimes forget about you guys. Is it really my fault though?"

            "You know the answer to that, Kari," I said in a dangerously low tone. So she finally admitted it. I shook my head. "If you're going to continue to be like that, Hikari, then I don't want to live with you anymore. It shouldn't matter, because I practically don't, anyway."

            A look of pure hurt crossed her face, and immediately, I regretted it, but it was too late to take the words back. She stormed past me and into our room, and I followed. "Kari, I'm sorry—"

            I was cut off by a flying object whizzing past me. It was Kari's brush. It hit the wall with a thud and fell to the floor. "Kari—"

            "You know what, Takeru?" she said, in a frighteningly high pitch voice. "If you don't want to live here anymore, fine. I don't want to live with you either." She followed this with another flying object. "Now do you want to move out or should I?"  
            "Kari, I wasn't thinking—"

            "Sure you were!" The toothbrush just narrowly missed my left ear. "That's what you've been feeling this whole time. If you're not happy here, then leave."

            I strengthened my resolve. "Okay."

            Kari stopped for a minute to look absolutely shocked, then proceeded to throw things double time. Kari was never really overly athletic, but two things did manage to hit me: her engagement ring, and the curling iron. Sadly, I picked up the ring and gazed at it, remembering the time I gave it to her, and then proceeded to pick up the phone and call Tai. He knew a few good lawyers, and we certainly needed one.

            Soon—too soon—divorce papers were mailed to our apartment. Kari and I sat down the kids and explained to them, trying to make them understand that we loved them both with all our hearts, that we were getting a divorce. We had sat down and talked about it, and thought it not fair that one parent should get two kids. So we decided on who got whom—I got Hope, and Kari got Aaron. "Your dad and Hope are going to be moving out soon," she explained to them. Hope and Aaron looked at each other, heartbroken. "You can't take her away from me, Daddy," Aaron pleaded. Hope just nodded, and my heart broke. "I'm sorry, Aaron… but I figured, if I can't have both of you, that we should share and I could have just one of you. I'm sorry it didn't work out."

            "Why not?" Hope asked, innocently, the prospect of losing her big brother tearing her eyes up.

            "It's just… Mommy and I don't get along anymore, as you have noticed. We decided we can't live together anymore. But we still love you, so very much. Know that you were never the cause of why we can't get along anymore," I explained, tenderly, to my kids. I looked at Aaron. My firstborn. I was going to miss my son so much. I wasn't going to be able to see his games at school, winning his first match, getting his first crush… I sighed to myself and wanted to just try and work it out with Kari. But I knew her job would always come first, and even I, her husband of six years, her love for eleven, couldn't compete with that. 

            The night before Hope and I were scheduled to go, I tucked Aaron into bed. "Tell me another story, Daddy," he pleaded, not wanting me to go.

            "Okay, but this is your last one." I ruffled his unruly hair—just like mine—and said, "Once upon a time, there was a little boy. His parents were happy, until the boy was about six. Then they started fighting a lot and then they separated, his father taking his older brother and his mother taking the boy. They lived in the same city, so they saw each other a lot. But the boy missed his dad, and his brother, all the same. 

            "The boy started playing basketball and got really good. Soon he was in school, making new friends and playing basketball. He also wrote some stories. He still missed the other half of his family, but with the help of his friends and his hobbies, he was okay. He wasn't as happy as he could be, but he was still happy."

            "Who was that boy?" Aaron asked me. "His story sounds like mine, except that he's happy."

            "That was my story," I told Aaron. "My parents divorced when I was six. It was hard, but I survived. And you will, too. You're strong."

            "But I'll miss you, Daddy," Aaron said, tears threatening to fall.

            "I know, big guy. I'll miss you too. I'm really sorry that things have to be this way." I kissed him on his forehead.

            "Daddy?"

            "Yes, Aaron?"

            "Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?"

            I smiled. "Of course."

            Aaron was trying to fight sleep off, to stay with me more, but in the end sleep overtook him and he fell into a deep slumber. Before I left, I watched him intently and whispered, "I love you, Aaron," and painfully left. I was going to go say goodnight to Hope when I heard a voice singing—a soft and sad voice.

(_Goodnight, my angel,_

_time_ to close your eyes__

_and_ save these questions for another day__

_I think I know what you've been asking me_

_I think you know what I've been trying to say_

_I promised I would never leave you_

_And you should always know_

_Wherever you may go_

_No matter where you are_

_I never will be far away_

            The song sounded vaguely familiar, but now it sounded bittersweet as I realized this was Kari's goodbye to her daughter. I leaned against the wall, listening to Kari sing Hope to sleep, the sadness flowing in my heart, like I was sure the tears were flowing down my soon to be ex-wife's face.

_Goodnight, my angel_

_Now it's time to sleep_

_And still so many things I want to say_

_And like a boat out on the ocean_

_I'm rocking you to sleep_

_The water's dark and deep _

_inside_ this ancient heart__

_You'll always be a part of me_

_Goodnight, my angel_

_Now it's time to dream_

_And dream how wonderful your life will be_

_Someday your child may cry_

_And if you sing this lullabye_

_Then in your heart_

_There will always be a part of me_

_Someday we'll all be gone_

_But lullabyes go on and on..._

_They never die_

_That's how you and I will be)_

            "Good night, my precious daughter, Hope Akira. I love you so very much. Remember that you'll always be in my heart, no matter what." Kari's voice was choked with emotion. "Take care of your daddy for me. Once you're old enough to understand, tell him I'll always love him."

            That did it for me. I had to get out of proximity of Kari before I broke down. I rushed to the sofa, where my makeshift bed was waiting, and sat there, pretending to be occupied, until I was sure Kari was in the room. I then padded down the hall to Hope's room and kissed her sleeping form. "Good night, Hope. Sleep well—we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

            The next day, Kari helped me move the stuff I was taking into the living room and down the elevator, where a moving truck was waiting in the garage. Finally, after many laborious trips, everything was ready to go. Hope was sniffling in the corner, holding on to her brother for dear life. I smiled sadly at them and then turned to the table, on which was the last detail I had to clear up—the divorce papers. It said I had sole custody of Hope, while Kari had sole custody of Aaron, and what not… we didn't need to send child support to each other… and we basically cited "irreconcilable differences." It hurt me so much to see that. But I had realized that I was working almost to the point of negligence also, so I knew that part of it was my fault. Picking up the pen as if it was as heavy as my heart, I looked over the papers and penned my signature everywhere I had to. When I had signed the last line, I exhaled and looked over at Kari. "There. It's… it's done." Those were the hardest words I'd ever had to say in my life.

            Kari looked at me, the pain evident in her eyes too, and sighed. "I'm sorry, T.K. I'm sorry it had to end up like this."

            "So am I, Light." That was the last time in twelve years that I would use my special name for her. Slowly, I slipped off my wedding ring and handed it to her. "Here. Keep it."

            "I couldn't possibly take that," Kari said, softly. "I won't."

            I nodded. "Fine." I slipped it into my pocket, then turned to Aaron and Hope, who were now crying. I picked Aaron up and threw him in the air like he always loved to be thrown. He laughed happily, as always, but his eyes didn't have the sparkle they usually had. "Aaron, I love you. Don't ever forget that, okay?"

            He nodded. "Okay, Daddy." Then he hugged my legs tightly, so I picked him up so he could hug me properly. "I'll miss you, Daddy. Take care of Hope, okay?"

            "I will. Promise." I let him down and he ran to Hope, giving her a huge hug. "Don't forget me, Hope."

            Hope shook her head no. "I won't." Then she proceeded to go to her mother. "Mommy, be happy, okay? I'll miss you."

            Kari was crying openly now. "Hope, I'll miss you so much. I love you." She gave her daughter one last kiss on the forehead. Then, Kari and I turned to each other. Before I knew it, my arms were around her, holding her tightly. She was (and still is) the love of my life… and I was leaving her. "Hikari, I love you so much. I guess some things aren't meant to be, though."

             Not pulling away, but instead melting into my embrace, she looked up at me with tear-filled eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "Oh, Takeru… I love you, too. And I'm sorry."

            "I understand," I said, softly. "Take care of Aaron for me. Make sure he has all the father figures that he can have."

            Kari nodded. "Where are you going to stay?"

            "I'm moving to Santa Monica."

            She took a step back, as if she'd been physically hit. "All the way across the country?"

            I nodded. "My publisher asked me if I wanted to move there two years ago. I figured it'd be the perfect place to start over."

            "Okay. Just… make sure you take care of Hope, that if she gets sick in the middle of the night, to sing her to sleep. That always calms her down."

            "Alright." I checked my watch. "I have to go now."

            Kari nodded slowly, sadness evident everywhere. "Okay."

            I took Hope's hand and we walked out of the New York apartment for the last time, my heart screaming at me to go back, to embrace Kari, tell her it was all a mistake, that we could work it out… but in the end, my logic won, and soon, I, a twenty-four year old newly divorcé with a four year old daughter, was on my way to the airport, to a one-way flight to Southern California.

            The next time I saw Kari was twelve years later. In those twelve years, my daughter Hope had grown into a beautiful girl, still with the flair for the dramatic, but an even bigger flair for music. She loved to sing. She sang all the time, and soon, she got noticed for it. She was also very kind, loving, and generous to others, just like her mother was when she was Hope's age. It brought back bittersweet memories to see Kari's daughter just like her.

            There were times, like when we'd be at the pier and Hope fell ill, just like Kari used to when she was younger—bad immune systems—when I was forced to be reminded of Kari, and as I tended to my daughter, I always wondered if she ever thought of me when she looked at our son, and it brought a fresh wave of pain to me. I didn't want to live in the memories, but they were all I had, but if I continued to, I would go crazy, just missing Kari and sometimes, on the cold, lonely nights, when I felt so empty, I thought I would go so insane that I would do anything to just get back to where I was, even if I had to walk.

(_It's always in times like these when I think of you_

_and_ I wonder if you ever think of me__

_'Cause everything's so wrong and I don't belong_

_living_ in your precious memory__

_'Cause I'll need you_

_and_ I'll miss you__

_and_ now I wonder…__

_If I could fall into the sky_

_Do you think time would pass me by?_

_'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles_

_if_ I could just see you tonight__

_And I, I don't want to let you know_

_I, I drown in your memory_

_I, I don't want to let this go_

_I, I don't…_

_Making my way downtown, walking fast,_

_Faces pass and I'm homebound_

_Staring blankly ahead, just making my way,_

_Making my way through the crowd_

_And I still need you_

_And I still miss you_

_And now I wonder…_

_If I could fall into the sky,_

_Do you think time would pass us by?_

_'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles_

_if_ I could just see you,__

_if_ I could just hold you… tonight)__

            I ended up writing about my adventures in the Digital World, and they all became best-sellers. With this money, I bought a condo on the beachside in Santa Monica. Hope loved it there—the sunshine, the ocean, and the pier with the small amusement park. We'd go to the beach every summer, almost every day of every summer, and Hope would play happily in the water. She became a great swimmer as a result. She also learned how to boogieboard—she couldn't do the surfing because the surfboard was too heavy for her. Admittedly, she was a little spoiled, because I doted on her, but she wasn't bratty. Hope blossomed into an independent, well-adjusted, bubbly teenager, with her share of teenage angst, but what else is new? She would occasionally ask me about her mother, and I wanted to tell her about Kari—she remembered so little, because she was so young when Kari and I divorced—but it pained me too much that I couldn't. The only way I really was reminded of Kari, except the living reminder that was her daughter, was through the books that I wrote. Other than that, I tried to keep my head away from her. I just couldn't let go.

            I dabbled in dating once in a while, but no one really held a candle to the mother of my daughter. I don't know what it was. I think, subconsciously, I compared every girl I met to Kari, and so no one was ever good enough. However, fate gave me a second chance.

            It came about when Hope turned sixteen. I had sent her, over a two-week period in the summer, to a camp to hone her musical talent. When she came back, something about her was… different. She then came to me with the prospect of becoming a signed recording artist. However, the record company was in New York. I started to become a bit suspicious about this, but when I found out I had to go anyway, I took her along with me.

            In my good friend Davis's noodle shop in New York City, I not only met with my publisher, but one of Hope's friends—a boy who was about two years older than her, and had a striking resemblance to me when I was his age. He had messy, unruly brown hair and deep crystal blue eyes… and as I followed him home, for his mother was a talent scout for the biggest record company in the country, I realized that Hope had somehow discovered her brother, and I was meeting my ex-wife again.

            And so, we were reunited. It ended up that Hope had to stay in New York and Kari had to stay in Santa Monica, so we left our children in the Big Apple and I took my ex-wife home. In the few months that we got to ourselves, we bonded again. We went over the mistakes that we had made, realized what it was that we did wrong, and decided to give our relationship another try, for we had never fallen out of love with each other. And in the end… our love was so strong that I even attempted to give our marriage another try, with the same gold ring and pink stone that I had given to her seventeen years before, with the same hope that she would say yes, and the same light of love for her that radiated in my heart.


	18. Epilogue Two: Happily Ever After

AN: It's the last chapter!!! *sob* More notes after the chapter about that.

You guys, I only got 2 reviews on the last chapter! BOO! Oh well, you can make it up to me this chapter. =D

One more thing—the song used is by Clay Aiken (yay!!!), and it's called "The Way." It's a very romantic song; you should hear it for yourself.

This is the last chapter – I shouldn't have to tell you that they aren't mine.

Okay, now read, review, and enjoy!

*

One Light, One Hope

Interlude Four / Epilogue Two: Happily Ever After

            "So what happened after that?" Raymond Ishida asked.

            "You _know!" Hope Takaishi rolled her eyes. "Boys."_

            "Aaron, you were such a cute baby," Kendall Motomiya gushed, and her boyfriend, Aaron Kamiya-Takaishi, turned bright red. "I can't believe my dad put that in there," he muttered.

            Hikari Kamiya had just finished reading her Christmas present, five months later. It wasn't that it was too long, or too challenging (she knew the whole story by heart, anyway), but she had been so busy, and parts of it, especially towards the end, brought back painful memories, that it just took her a long time to finish it. Now her two children and their friends were poring over the book, trying to dish out some stuff on the two kids for blackmail.

            "Hope, I didn't know your middle name was Akira," Aaron said, thoughtfully. His sister swatted at him. "Yes you do! I said so at camp, remember?"

            "Uh… no. And besides, that was a long time ago."

            Hope shook her head. "Yes, my middle name is Akira."

            "What does that mean?" Kevin Nonaka, Hope's boyfriend, asked, placing his chin on Hope's shoulder. She turned and kissed him lightly, while the rest of the group groaned, and then answered his question. "It means anchor. When I was born, our family was going through a few hard times, and they thought I would be the glue that held the family together—the anchor. That's why it's my middle name."

            "Ah, I am now enlightened," Steve Kido, another friend of theirs, proclaimed, nodding his head in understanding.

            "I love the thing with you plinking at the ukulele and Aaron making up words to your tunes. I can so see that," Justin commented, smiling amusedly. Now it was Hope's turn to blush as the rest of the group laughed good-naturedly. Smiles were abundant nowadays—love was in the air, and there was a wedding to be planned.

            In another room of the house, Kari and her fiancé, Takeru Takaishi, sat quietly, meditating on the candle that was in front of them. "Why did I even think that a career was more important than family?" Kari wondered aloud, softly, as she continued to stare at the candle. They were doing this as part of a kind of therapy, a finding yourself exercise, and they were trying to analyze what went wrong in their previous marriage so that they wouldn't make the same mistakes. "You were right when you said that I was putting my job first before my family. I didn't want to give in and say you were right." She sighed. "And then when I did, and you left… I threw myself into it even more, just to drown out the pain."

            T.K. wrapped his arms around Kari and kissed her forehead. "I know, love. But you know something? After all this time being separated, we're still here. We found our way back to each other. And now, your job is flexible enough that you can do whatever you want."

            Kari smiled. "Did you know that Michael wants me to be the director of the Santa Monica branch?"

            "Really? Kari, that's awesome," T.K. congratulated her.

            "But I told him no."

            T.K. furrowed his eyebrows. "Why not?"

            Kari leaned back in T.K.'s embrace and said, "All my life, I've always loved kids. The only reason I took the job in the music industry was to make a living. But it's not what makes me truly happy, although it did bring me back to you." She smiled. "I've always wanted to be a teacher, and you have shown me that I should be truly happy in everything I do. So, I'm gonna work for Stratus only in the summer, and work to get my teaching credential so I can teach kindergarten."

            T.K. hugged his fiancée even tighter. "Oh, Kari, that's wonderful. Go for it. We'll be okay."

            "I know that. And I know it's not about the money anymore, even though we do have one kid in college and another on her way. I'm not worried about that anymore. I'm just committed to making this marriage work."

            Before she knew it, Kari was drawn into a loving kiss.

The wedding was to be small. They had planned it to be in their backyard, overlooking the beach, at sunset—for that was about the same time and place that T.K. had proposed the second time. They were inviting all of the people from their original wedding, some of whom hadn't seen them since before the divorce, and it was to be a joyous occasion—Mimi, Joe, Cody, Matt, and Davis would be reunited with their respective children, while Hope would get to see Mari and Karina again. Kendall was also excited because she would see her twin—they hadn't seen each other in such a long time—and Kevin would be seeing his sister again. Those were about the only guests invited, and most of them wouldn't even be watching the ceremony.

The week of the wedding came, and everyone was scurrying around, trying to get things ready. The reception was to be at Stratus Records' new building, and it would also serve as a breaking-in/housewarming ceremony for the building. Interestingly enough, since the wedding was so low-key, there wasn't much that T.K. and Kari themselves had to worry about. All they had to worry about was keeping the house clean and making sure they had the attire for their party—which was really only Aaron and Hope. The kids were taking care of the rest—from decorating the reception room to the music (their area of expertise) to the flowers. Hope, being who she was, had a lot of contacts and hook-ups so that she could make her parents' wedding reception the best without them having to worry about it.

Finally, the day of the wedding was upon them. Breaking tradition, T.K. and Kari spent the day together on the beach, just having fun. He took her to the pier—Kari had never had the chance to experience it before, even though she'd been there for a couple of weeks before, because it had been so cold when she was there—and they had a fun time. Before they knew it, it was time for them to get going. She kissed him sweetly as she retreated to Hope's room to change. "See you in a few hours."

T.K. sighed. "I'll be waiting."

"You did what?"

"Wrote a song, Hope. Shouldn't be a hard concept, considering I write normally." Aaron smirked.

"But… a song?"

"Yeah, not so different from poetry, when you think about it. What?" Aaron protested when his sister shot him a "I don't really believe you did that" look. "I only wrote the words, Hope. Someone else wrote the music."

She nodded. "Oh, okay. Then I'm not so skeptical anymore." She glanced at the kitchen clock. "Oh, wow. I have to go help Mom get ready, and then get ready myself. See you later!" She rushed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, where her mother was.

"So… how do I look?" Kari asked her daughter's opinion, as Hope came into the room.         

Hope gasped at the beautiful sight that was her mother. In her sparkling dress, her mother looked truly angelic. (AN: For a description of the dress, see Interlude Two.) Kari had added her own touches—instead of the tiara and veil that she had tried on in New York, Kari had just a tiara with pink rhinestones on it, and the top of her ensemble was now a light pink color. "Mom… I didn't know you changed your dress."

Kari smiled. "When your father and I decided we wanted a low-key wedding, I thought the all white was going a little too far. So I returned the veil and the white top, and luckily, they had one exactly the same, except in pink, and I got that and the pink tiara instead. What do you think?" She gave a small twirl, and Hope smiled. "I think you look positively radiant." She smiled warmly. "It suits you well."

Mother returned the smile daughter gave. "Thank you, Hope." She swept up her daughter in a hug. "And not just for helping me with the wedding. Without you, I don't think your father and I would be here again."

"Well, I didn't do it _all_," Hope said. "Aaron helped me a lot."

"Yeah, I know." Kari smiled wistfully. "We'll have more times and memories together, okay?"

            Hope nodded. "We will. Now come on, let's get you married."

            Kari grinned widely and linked her arm through Hope's to show her agreement.

            "So… you ready for this?" Aaron asked. Even though he'd been living with his whole family for months now, he still wasn't used to having his dad around. True, he was happy about it, but it was just… weird. A few months wasn't the same as twelve years, and he was so young when T.K. left… he wanted to get to know his dad better, but didn't know how.

            T.K. nodded. "Do you remember the night before your mother and I divorced?"

            Aaron looked at the skyline in thought. "Very vaguely. You… you tucked me in."

            "That I did. And I told you a story. You see, I was six when my parents divorced, just like you were six when Kari and I did. I spent half my life as a lost little boy, missing his big brother, living with a mother who loved him but who didn't see him too much, having a different name as my brother… I didn't want to make you live that life. I didn't want to become my father. But I figured it was better for you to not grow up in a family of fighting rather than have both your parents. I did not want to leave you. I just couldn't live with Kari anymore."

            "I know, I read the book. But I didn't know about… my grandfather?"

            T.K. nodded. "He's in Japan. Maybe one day we can go visit."

            "That'd be nice." They were interrupted by Hope clearing her throat. "The minister is here."

            Embracing his daughter, who was wearing a simple, flowy pink dress, T.K. kissed her forehead. "You look beautiful."

            "Not as beautiful as Mom. But you'll see when it's time."

            "I better go get her then, huh?" Aaron decided. He was giving her away, while doing double duty as T.K.'s best man. Hope nodded and Aaron left to go find Kari, while Hope stood opposite her father, waiting for her mother.

            Finally, a soft melody was heard playing in the background, as Aaron and Kari appeared, arm in arm, in T.K.'s line of sight. Hope was right—Kari was beautiful, even in all her simplicity. He smiled widely and Kari returned his smile, and as they made it to where T.K. and Hope were standing, Kari and Aaron took their respective places.

The ceremony was very simple—they just took their vows, exchanged rings, and were declared husband and wife, again. As they consummated their union with a chaste kiss, Aaron hugged his little sister—they were finally a family again.

            When T.K. and Kari entered the room at Stratus where their reception was to be held, there came a great cheer from all who were present. Kari laughed. "We're glad we can be sharing this time with all of you. Thank you for being here."

After the traditional things like the cutting of the cake, and the toasts and all that fun stuff, the band announced that it was time for the first dance. "Ladies and gentlemen, you are lucky to be present tonight," Steve announced. "Not only are you catching a world premiere of ours, but you are listening to the vocals and words of our great friend and the son of the newlyweds, Aaron Kamiya-Takaishi!"

            Hope raised an impressed eyebrow and exchanged glances with Kendall, who was surprised at this also. Aaron took the mic and said, "That's Aaron Takaishi to you, Steve. Anyway, I just wanted to say that my parents are two very lucky people, and I couldn't think of two other people who deserve this kind of happiness. This song was inspired by someone else, actually, but I think it suits my parents well, and at the insistings of the band, and _only _because they are my parents, I am singing this song for them."

            "Get your cameras out, people, because this ain't happening again!" Ray yelled, half drunk on champagne already, into the crowd. His mother, Christi Ishida, who was sitting in the vicinity of Hope and Kendall, sighed disapprovingly, and Matt laughed.

            The band took their places—with Aaron as their singer, Kevin took a seat at the piano, but not before shooting Hope a look that clearly said, "I'll be thinking about you."

            With that, the gentle piano notes filled the air as T.K. took his bride by the hand and lead her to the dance floor, enveloping her into his loving embrace. "Let's see how talented these guys are, huh?" T.K. whispered in Kari's ear as they began to dance.

            Kari had a mischievous glint in her eye. "Let's see if Aaron inherited the musical talent."

            Just then, Aaron's voice filled the air, directed solely at a certain redhead sitting in the audience.

_There's something about the way you look tonight_

_There's something about the way I can't take my eyes off you_

_There's something about the way your lips invite_

_Maybe it's the way that I get nervous when you're around_

_And I want you to be mine_

_And if you need a reason why_

_It's in the way that you move me_

_And the way that you tease me_

_The way that I want you tonight_

_It's in the way that you hold me_

_And the way that you know me_

_And when I can't find the right words to say,_

_You feel it in the way_

            Kendall was tearing up. "I didn't know… he could do that."

            "What, write or sing?" Hope smiled. "I think he should stick to his day job."

            The curly-haired girl swatted at her best friend. "Shush, I'm trying to savor the moment. Besides, you have your own sentiments to feel." She motioned over to the pianist, who was staring at his girlfriend intently. Hope smiled genuinely and sighed. How was it that anyone could be this happy? She had a wonderful life—singing for a living, getting paid for it, being reunited with her parents, having a wonderful, loving boyfriend, and seeing her parents together again—Hope didn't know if she even deserved to be this happy. _The only people who should be allowed to be happier than I am today are my parents_, she thought, wistfully, as she watched them dance, seeing not only glimpses of their love, but of their friendship that brought them together.

            One moment, T.K. was whispering something in Kari's ear and Kari was smiling widely, clearly entertained by his comment, almost as if they were in seventh grade again, goofing off. The next moment, they were gazing intently into each other's eyes, looking at each other like they were the only two people in the room. Hope smiled. She would be so lucky if she could find someone like that. As she locked gazes with Kevin again, she sincerely hoped that she was on her way.

            Aaron was nervous. He had no idea how the guys convinced him into doing this, but he did feel like he owed it to his parents to sing for them the song that he wrote with his girl in mind, for the band. And at the moment, singing the words that came from his heart, he felt the nervousness slowly ebb away, showcasing his hidden talent.

_There's something about how you stay on my mind_

_There's something about the way that I whisper your name when I'm asleep, oh girl_

_Maybe it's the look you get in your eyes_

_Oh, baby, it's the way that it makes me feel to see you smile_

_And the reasons, they may change_

_But what I'm feeling stays the same_

            This was not only Aaron's first shot at songwriting, but Kevin's as well. For years, he'd had a small piano riff stuck in his head and he'd play it over and over again, feeling the romance in its simple notes. He wished one day for it to be put to words that could truly express how he felt about someone he loved, and wished even more that he could find that kind of love. Now, at seventeen, he had discovered the angel that was Hope Takaishi. He knew that they were young, and life was ahead of them, but he couldn't explain the feeling he felt in his heart when he just thought of her, everything that she was… it just overwhelmed him with emotion when he thought of why she meant what she did to him. As he soulfully played the piano, he wondered if this was the love he was looking for his whole life.

_I can't put my fingers on_

_Just what it is that makes me love you_

_So don't ask me to describe_

_I get all choked up inside_

_Just thinking bout the way_

            "Kari," T.K. asked, as they were dancing. At the moment, they weren't in goofing off mode, but they weren't in googly eyes mode either.

            "Yes, my dear husband?" she asked playfully.

            "God, you don't know how good it feels to hear you say that again." T.K. grinned. "But I just wanted to say thank you."

            She cocked her head to the side and looked at him questioningly. "For what?"

            "Everything. For making my life better. For loving me. But most of all, for giving me—giving us—a second chance."

            She held him closer as her response, resting her head on his shoulder, listening to T.K.'s soothing heartbeat and, knowing she was the reason for that heart beating, smiled.

_There's something about the way you look tonight_

_There's nothing more to say than I feel it in the way_

            The applause mixed in with the loud cheering and whistles brought them out of their reverie. Kari went up to the stage and hugged her son. "Aaron, you don't know how proud I am of you. I always have been. I know that took a lot for you to do, and it was truly beautiful. Thank you."

            Hearing those words from his mother made everything worth it. "Thanks, Mom," he said, his voice suddenly choked, not from overuse, but from emotion. After he stepped down from the stage, he was bombarded with a hug from Kendall. "Aaron, you know something?" she asked him, holding him tight.

            "What?" he asked, holding her in his embrace.

            "I fall in love with you more every day." She rewarded him with a kiss. "You are so talented. I thought I knew everything that there was to you… but I guess I was wrong." She smiled warmly at him and Aaron's heart melted. Kissing her on the forehead, he whispered in her ear, "I wrote that for you."

            Hours of dancing finally took their toll on Kari's poor feet, and she sat down as the party was still going to massage her tired feet. As she pulled her feet out of her simple white shoes, a voice said, "Let me."

            She looked up to see T.K., and smiled. "If you want."

            "Of course." He took one of Kari's delicate feet and started firmly, but gently, applying pressure to relieve the stress.

            Kari sighed in happiness. "You are too good to me, T.K."

            "Can I help it? I love you."

            "I love you, too, T.K." She sat there, just reveling in her free foot massage, when she suddenly blurted out, "Thank you."

            Now it was T.K.'s turn to be confused. "For what?"

            "For my Christmas present. The one that came with the ring."

            "Oh, that." T.K. waved a hand lazily, but Kari could see that he was blushing. "I thought you might like it."

            "Of course I did. It's our story, through your eyes. I got a lot of insight from that book. It brought back good memories, though. Thank you for those memories."

            "Hey," he reminded his wife, as he switched feet, "we have lots more to come."

            "That we do. And we'll keep making those memories until the end."

            T.K. nodded in agreement. "Kari, I love you. I know I say it all the time, but I want you to know just how much and how long you've had my heart."

            She leaned forward and kissed her husband's golden locks. "I know. I can feel it. And you have made me the luckiest girl in the world, after all I put you through."

            "Hey." He looked up at her. "That's in the past. Now this is the present." He slipped her shoe back on, ever so gently. "Hmm, well, you fit the shoe of my one true love, so you get to marry me and become my princess!" he said, only half-joking.

            "Do we get to live happily ever after?" Kari asked, playing along.

            T.K. kissed her. "Of course." And with that, they walked hand in hand into the midst of their wedding celebration.

**The End!!!!**

Wow, it's over… *sigh* It took me one long year to write all of that. I just want to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed and given me wonderful feedback. A HUGE shout out to **Azn**** Angel Hikari, who has stayed with me throughout this whole story, and the last one!!! Cookies go to her! =D I could go over the list of reviewers, but that would take forever and three days, so I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys have brought me to above 100 reviews, which has made me super happy. And now… I have a little interactive thing for you.**

I have an idea for you guys. I'm writing a sequel to this, BUT it is only a one-shot. All I can tell you is it's about Hope singing a lullaby to her newborn child. With that being said, I have a contest.

You can take any of the characters/couples used in this story (Tai/Sora, Mimi/Joe, Matt/Christi, Ray, Steve, Aaron/Kendall, Hope/Kevin, Mari, Karina, Davis/Natalie, Kristen, Justin, even Michael, the people from "Together Again": Dawn Izumi and Rachel Ichjijouji (did I spell that right? Ken and Yolei's daughter), and of course, T.K./Kari) and write about them. You could write about Mari and Karina's childhood living with Tai and Sora. You could write about how Matt and Christi met (see the chapter where T.K. proposes to Kari—the first time—for a little info about that) and their relationship… you could write about what happens to Aaron and Kendall after this story, you can write about the band (Ray, Steve, Justin, Kevin), whatever you want. However, I have a few guidelines.

-Anything that you write must have the context of this story. For example, Steve has diabetes, Dawn is adopted, Raymond's middle name is Thomas, Rachel lives in Canada, T.K. and Kari now live in a condo in Santa Monica… you can't change anything that's happened to the characters in this story. Oh, and if you are going to write about Hope and Kevin, wait for the sequel first, because I'm not sure how that's gonna work.

-You must have a story published on FF.net. I say this because I want my chars/plotlines to be in good stories and if you've already published one, then you have some experience in writing and that's good. =D If you really feel that you can write a good story without being published, though, run it by me and I'll decide.

-Run it by me first before you publish it. If I see an inconsistency, I'll let you know, and if I seriously don't like the plot, I'll let you know too. Most of the time I'm really receptive, though, so don't be too worried about that. =D And if I don't like your writing style (grammatical), I'll tell you to go back and fix it, 'cause I cannot stand that. Sorry if I sound all bossy… but yeah.

-Use your disclaimer to say that the chars belong to me! =D (Sorry but they do)

And that's about it. You can put in your summary that it's a spinoff of this series, I guess, or whatever. But yeah. Be creative! You could probably say that I'm just lazy and don't want to write anymore and these characters have so much potential. But yeah… college sucks the time out of your life. Boo.

Again, thank you to all my reviewers!!! I have only one more request to ask of you – can you get me up to 150? Please? It's only 20 reviews more… thanks!!!

--this is light*hope, signing off


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